"I’m still wondering how illiterate Evans lured me, a civil engineer, into his kidnapping gang" –Suspected informant says

A 53-year-old suspected robber and kidnapper, Linus Opara, says he wonders how suspected billionaire kidnapper, Evans whom he described as an illiterate, lured him, a civil engineer, into his kidnapping gang. Linus was arrested by the police in Lagos state on July 20th and was paraded before newsmen at the state police command in Ikeja yesterday October 6th. According to Police sources, Linus served as an informant to Evans. Linus ran a construction company and lived in the Igando area of the state. Evans on two occasions paid him N2 million and N700, 000 for giving him information about two of his victims.

”Do not look at my white hair; it is not as a result of old age. Rather, my hair turned white because of long-suffering after my graduation as a civil engineer from the University of Ibadan. It is still a surprise to me how an illiterate person like Evans was able to lure me into kidnapping and all his illicit business. I studied Civil Engineering at the University of Ibadan. I am married with four children and they are still schooling. My wife is a graduate of Accountancy from the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), but she has not secured work till date.” he said

Speaking further, Linus said “I am not anything to Evans. We only address him as chairman and sometimes as president of group of companies. I was arrested and taken to the State Anti- Robbery Squad (SARS) building in Ikeja on 20th July, 2017. I saw Evans for the first time the day I supplied a nutrition supplement because I am a distributor. The second time I met Evans was when policemen took me from their cell to an unknown place in Lagos, because I was blindfolded. I could not see where they were taking me to. It was when they took me to Evans that they removed the blindfold and I saw him. I addressed him as Nwachinemelu. Police were asking both of us questions and I was answering accordingly. They asked me how many times I worked for Evans and I said two times, and that I turned him down the third time that he asked me to do another job. I told the police that I monitored victims for him and he paid me. I did not know the names of the victims. During the first work I did for him, he sent a motorcycle rider to meet me at Olowola Bus Stop. He gave my phone number to him and he called me. When I met him, I asked him where he was taking me to. He said he was taking me to Trade Fair area. So I entered his motorcycle and he took me to under the bridge at Trade Fair. He rode towards Mile 2 area. Evans called me and asked where we were and I told him. But he asked me to go home; that I had done well. When we reached Alakija, I told him and he said I should not worry myself; that he had told others to allow me to go to my house. When he called again, he asked me to send my bank account number to him. I sent my First Bank account number to him and he wired the sum of N2 million to my account. I was surprised. The second time, it was the same process as he already had my bank account number. He sent me the sum of N700,000. When he called me for the third job, I told him that I was not interested, because I started sensing some errors in the business, like getting afraid for the kind of money he was giving me. The money he was giving me in the twinkle of an eye was bigger than the money I used to make in a whole year as a civil engineer” he said

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