Nigerian Tribune - These are certainly not the best of times for notorious kidnapper, Chukwudidume Onuamadike, popularly known as Evans, who was last weekend arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team as he has gone spiritual in police cell.
Saturday Tribune gathered that the suspect, who is being detained at the Ikeja headquarters of the Lagos State police command, requested for a copy of the Holy Bible on Friday.
A police source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said “he (Evans) asked for a copy of the Bible today (Friday) and we gave him one. He has been reading it since then. He has been very sober. He has been focusing on Job and Lamentations in the Bible. He kept shifting his focus between the two books of the Bible”.
Lamentations consists of series of poetic and powerful laments, traditionally ascribed to Jeremiah over the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC while Job is a series of monologues, giving an account of a righteous man who suffers under terrible disasters.
The police source added that “other suspects in his (Evans’) cell claimed that he has been keeping to himself. He has become quiet since the Bible was given to him this morning (Friday).”
Also, operatives of the IRT have begun analyses of the call data of the over 190 SIM cards recovered from Evans.
A police source at the IRT told Saturday Tribune that “what we are doing now is to look at the call history of all the SIM cards and possibly arrest other members of his gangs who may want to continue with the business.
“We are still looking at the possibility that he has more SIM cards, but he stated that the only remaining few are with his wife but we still want to continue with our investigations. We want to put a permanent end to his gangs. We want to ensure that every single member of all his gangs is arrested.”
He also stated that “he (Evans) is very experienced and some of his gang members might have acquired enough experience to start a new gang but we will put an end to Evans’ dynasty in kidnapping and other crimes.”
A source at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, told Saturday Tribune that apart from ACP Abba Kyari, the leader of the police team who was recently promoted, the Inspector General has approved the promotion of all other members of the team.
A close neighbour of Evans in Magodo (names withheld) told the media that he was yet to recover from the shock of realising that he had lived so closely with Nigeria’s most-wanted kidnapper.
He recalled that he and Evans used to have their haircut at the same barbing salon in Shangisha.
It was learnt that he usually paid the same amount for the haircut as his neighbour in order to take any attention of affluence away from him.
He was also said to be a regular face at the bar sharing fence with the salon, with those who sat around him before claiming that he never exceeded two bottles of beer at any given drinking session.
“He (Evans) is well known around here and it is a big surprise that he was wanted by police for close to four years,” the source said, while raising the suspicion of collusion, either with certain persons within Magodo who allegedly kept watch for him, or within the security system.
However, cab hire operators around Magodo and Shangisha were said to have been the biggest beneficiaries of his generosity.
Regardless of the distance, he reportedly paid high amount, making him very popular among them.
Whenever he was done with barbing his hair or taking his beer, he would, according to those who knew him, pick a cab to his Fred Soboyede home, a distance of less than 10 minutes, for a high amount of money.
One rule, however, was that the cab operator would not take him to his house.
One of his neighbours said “he always disembarked from the taxi at our area and would walk home.”
His mansion is part of the three on the first plot on the street.
It was also learnt that cars were rarely seen in his compound, with a shouting distance neighbour disclosing that “cars had never been parked in his home, which we now believe was to ensure he wasn’t being trailed and avoid being trailed at all through car registration.
“It was only yesterday, in about a year of him being with us here, that the house was without light. He wasn’t using government electricity. His noiseless generator was always on, every minute of the day.”
A police source, who pleaded for anonymity, while speaking on the recent arrest of Evans, disclosed that he was also very popular in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he had choice houses and other properties in many parts of the state.
Another reliable police source also told the said that Evans took police operatives to a mechanic’s workshop on Liasu Road, Ikotun, Lagos, on Tuesday, where one of his cars, which got damaged in an accident within the area, was kept.
However, a couple of high-profile residents had already made representations to the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of the estate on how to sanitise the area.
Apart from this, the police are set to spread their dragnets in a bid to root out more kidnappers in Lagos State.
“With the arrest of Evans, we hope to crack other gangs that live like kings in Lagos State,” the police source added.
Evans was the acclaimed brains behind most of the high-profile kidnap cases in the country. For over four years, he was declared wanted in Edo, Anambra and Lagos states.
According to a police source, who spoke anonymously, “Vampire is the most deadly kidnapper in Nigerian history and Evans remains the most notorious, brilliant and crafty kidnapper in our history.
A police source had told the media that “after a strategic monitoring by our men, Evans was tracked to Magodo in Lagos and he was finally arrested by ACP Kyari and his men at his Magodo Estate mansion in Lagos State.
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