CV NEWS FEED // Nigerian police have arrested a suspected kidnapper who allegedly collaborated with several other men to kidnap and hold two Catholic priests for ransom in the country’s Plateau State.
According to local reports, Ogun State Police Command apprehended suspect Christopher Yaro on Monday, two weeks after Catholic priests, Fr. Kenneth Kanwa and Fr. Jude Nwachukwu disappeared from St. Vincent de Paul Fier Parish in the Diocese of Pankshin.
Yaro, who was a parishioner at St. Vincent, allegedly collaborated with five other church members armed with K.2 rifles to kidnap the two priests. The abductors demanded a ransom of approximately $17,000.
“After a week of the abduction, the chairman of the Plateau State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Polycarp Lubo, though could not confirm whether a ransom was paid, reportedly confirmed the release of the priests,” the report stated.
Police statements in the report revealed that Yaro fled from Pankshin to Ijebu-Ode, a town just off the southern coast of Nigeria, nearly 600 miles away. Yaro feared parishioners would attack him when they discovered his involvement in the kidnapping plot.
A police investigation is ongoing.
