By  Chinenyeh Ozor,  Nsukka

Three suspects were Friday arrested at the university town of Nsukka, Enugu State who allegedly kidnapped an old woman and collected about N700, 000 as ransom from the children  before releasing her.

The suspects had last Sunday abducted Madam Benedicta Abonyi at her country home in Ogbozalla Opi,  in Nsukka Local government Area of the state and asked for N30 million ransom.

Saturday Vanguard gathered that as negotiations for Madam Abonyi’s release were going on, the kidnappers reduced the ransom to about N700,000 which the children paid.

However, nemesis was said to have caught up with the suspects when one of them instead of freeing Abonyi asked her children to send him a recharge card worth N750 and they complied.

It was at this juncture that the Police  Anti- Kidnap Squad Unit swung into action by tracking the number.

It was said that soon after receiving the N750 recharge card,  the leader of the gang forwarded same  to one Nneka, his girlfriend at Enugu metropolis.

The police however apprehended the said Nneka, after tracking her telephone line. Police sources said that it was through Nneka that detectives were able to unravel the identities of the kidnappers who were then subsequently ‘’smoked out’’ of their hideout behind a popular private mass transit motor park at Nsukka.

The operation for the arrest of the suspects  was led by the state anti kidnap Commander Stephen Oseghale, a police superintendent and assisted by his Nsukka counterpart, Moses Esene, ASP.

The security operatives were alleged to have cordoned off the suspects’ hideout  at wee hours of the day. The leader of the gang whose name was simply given as Abuchi, reportedly tried to escape by jumping out through the back door and throwing away his mobile phone but was over powered by the police.

A Senior Police Officer who pleaded anonymity told Saturday Vanguard that the suspects were monitored through network tracking devices from the point they opened discussions with Madam Abonyi’s children, explaining that when police recovered the telephone set which Abuchi threw away while trying to escape, the name of the said Nneka, the kidnappers contacts with Abonyi’s children were found just like Abuchi’s text message which forwarded the recharge card was found in the ‘’sent messages box.’’