By CHIDI NKWOPARA

December 18, 2012, is one date the Okere family of Umuohie Ngor in Ngor Okpala local government area of Imo State, will not forget in a hurry.

On that fateful day, Mr. and Mrs. Barnard Okere ate their supper and said their night prayers before retiring to their separate rooms for the night’s rest at about 8.30pm. Neither the duo nor any member of the family had an inkling that danger was lurking around the corner.

None of them knew that armed hoodlums were putting final touches to their nefarious onslaught. It was also not clear how long it took the hoodlums to perfect their operation or who their sponsor(s) were.

Vanguard Metro  however gathered that it was not long after the family had their night prayers, that about four armed kidnappers stormed the home of the harmless, hapless and helpless Okere family and went straight for the octogenarian, Mrs. Christiana Okere.

Nigerian Police

The gun-totting gangsters, who came on two motorcycles, quickly ordered the woman’s husband, Barnard, to lie flat on the floor, facing downwards. Knowing that what separated him from imminent death was obeying the order, Bernard obliged.

The poor woman was moved out of the house. The hoodlums sandwiched Mrs. Okere on one of the waiting motorbikes and sped off through the village market area.

On getting to a market square, the escaping hoodlums shot sporadically into the air which made people to scamper into safety. She was thereafter taken to unknown destination. That was how the story of her kidnap started.

When the family came to terms with the sordid drama that just played out, they reported the matter to the Divisional Police Headquarters, Umuneke, in the Ngor Okpala Local Government Area. The matter was equally transferred to Anti-kidnapping Unit at State Criminal Investigation Department, CID, Owerri.

The kidnappers later made a call to the son of the victim. They demanded N20 million ransom for her release from captivity. Acting on credible information they got on December 28, 2012, police operatives from the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, arrested one of the suspected kidnappers.

Confirming the story to Vanguard Metro, the Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr. Vitalis Onugu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, DSP, said the suspect confessed to the crime and later took police operatives to the kidnapper’s hideout, a building in a bush, at Igwuruta in the Isiokpo Local Government Area of Rivers State.

“On sighting the police, the kidnappers fled, abandoning the old woman. Police condoned the building and she was found in a room in the building where she was kept”, Onugu recounted.

Answering another question, Onugu said she was in stable condition at the time of her rescue, adding that “so far, two other suspects have been arrested in connection with the crime”.

In her reaction, Mrs. Christiana Okere thanked God and the Nigeria Police for her rescue, pointing out that throughout her captivity, she was praying and did not lose hope. She advised members of the public not to pay ransom because that is what is encouraging the kidnappers.