Abductors of a judge of the Bayelsa State High Court, Justice Ebiyerin Omukoro, have been arrested by the state command of the Nigerian Police.
Justice Omukoro was kidnapped on June 21 in Yenagoa and was held for 12 days before he was rescued through the joint effort of security agencies in the state.
Governor Douye Diri disclosed the arrest on Wednesday during the state executive council meeting at the Government House, Yenagoa, while honouring an officer, Superintendent of Police, Sentome Obi, who rejected $17,000 bribe offered by a suspect involved in organ harvesting.
The Bayelsa governor, in a statement by his chief press secretary, Daniel Alabrah, said everyone involved in the kidnap had been picked up by the police, except the gang leader that was on the run.
He restated his warning to criminally-minded individuals to steer clear of Bayelsa, and stated his administration’s commitment to its zero tolerance policy for crime and criminality.
He said the government had improved security architecture in the state with the acquisition of drones for the police to fight crime in addition to the installation of CCTV cameras in different parts of the state capital.
He said: “We have greatly improved our crime fighting efforts, using technology. In the recent kidnap of a serving judge in the state, we were able to get him released unhurt.”