The Department of State Service, DSS, has carried out a sweeping arrest of suspected kidnappers terrorising parts of the country.

In a statement by an official of the service, Tony Opuiyo, the suspects who work in syndicate groups terrorize their victims and members of the public across the States particularly in the South-South, South-West and the North-West zones of the country.

According to Opuiyo, in the course of their dastardly acts, the suspects rape, maim and even murder their victims. They also inflict psychological pains, humiliation and grief on their victims and their families as well as extort huge sums of money from families or friends of victims.

At the last count, over 23 suspects were arrested from their various hideouts in Delta, Ekiti, Osun, Abia, Kebbi and Zamfara States.

The kidnap suspects were alleged to have operated in Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Imo, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, FCT, Kwara and Oyo States.

Notable among the suspected kidnappers include a lance-corporal, one Akeem Bello, a lance-corporal who deserted his unit in the Nigerian Army, while deployed in Maiduguri, a herbalist, Obukoko Emoabe and one Rachael Oladapo, a female, who was used by the gang as a reconnaissance spy and informant.

Some of the notable kidnap incidences carried out by the suspects include the kidnap of the Regent of Akungba in Ondo State, one Maryam Mohammed Rabiu, the daughter of Mohammed Rabiu who was abducted on 13th July 2015 and the recent kidnap of the driver of the brother of former INEC chairman, Attahiru Jega, Abbas Mohammed Jega.