During the search, two persons suspected to be informants to the kidnappers, who were found making calls inside the bush were arrested and taken into custody by the police team from Kwara State.

An abducted victim has reportedly died in a kidnappers’ den in Osun State while four others were freed from captivity after alleged payment of N7m ransom.

TORI earlier reported that a traditional chief, Mrs. Grace Adepoju (the Iyalode of Oyan) in Osun State, her surveyor and four others went to Agbamu for commercial transaction and while returning around 6.30pm, they were attacked and kidnapped at Aworo, a community at the Osun and Kwara states border last Monday August 21.

Chief Adepoju escaped from the abductors in the early hours of Tuesday, others remained in the kidnappers’ den while local hunters, operatives of Amotekun Corps and policemen made efforts to free them.

During the search, two persons suspected to be informants to the kidnappers, who were found making calls inside the bush were arrested and taken into custody by the police team from Kwara State.

A source close to one of the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity during an interview with Punch however, said four of the victims, were released in a community in Kwara State on Sunday, August 27, after payment of N7m.

“One of the victims died in the den of the abductors. Four others were released in a bush in a community in Kwara State, in the early hours of Sunday after the abductors collected N7m ransom.”

Spokesperson for the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Kehinde Adeleke, declined comment on the payment of ransom but confirmed the release of four abductees and the death of one victim.

“Four of the victims were released while one died in the den of the kidnappers. Three suspects were also arrested in connection with the incident,” she said.