The police in Nigeria have confirmed the arrest of Chika Nnodim, one of the men suspected to be part of the gang that kidnapped the girls from Takoradi.
According to reports from Nigeria, Nnodim is suspected to be part of a cross-border criminal gang doing kidnapping and other unlawful activities in the West African sub-region.
The suspect has been accused of being involved in kidnapping Ghanaian girls to Nigeria and is being held because he played a role in the disappearance of the four Ghanaian girls aged between 15 and 21 in the Takoradi Metropolis in the Western Region.
Chika Nnodim has been under security watch list of governments of Nigeria and Ghana according to “The Nation”, a newspaper in Nigeria.
According to the paper, Operatives of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition in Trafficking of Persons (NAPTIP) arrested Nnodim.
The case was reported to the agency by the Ghana High Commission in Abuja in April alleging the kidnap of their citizens from Ghana to Nigerian.
The NAPTIP has been collaborating with relevant law enforcement agencies within Nigeria and Ghana in the investigation.
The case has already been transferred to the Inspector General of Police in Nigeria for further investigation because findings from investigations proved that the case was not human trafficking related but of murder and kidnap.
The Director General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, expressed displeasure over the activities of the suspects according to the Nigerian media.
She added that they were promptly handed over to the sister law enforcement agency to ensure their thorough prosecution.
She stressed further that the agency should continue to collaborate with other relevant agencies as part of its inter-agencies synergy.
The NAPTIP boss warned that there is no hiding place for any criminals in Nigeria irrespective of their status.
Priscilla Blessing Bentum, 21, a third-year student of the University of Education, Winneba, was kidnapped on 17th August 2018 at Kansaworodo and Ruth Love Quayson, 18, a Fijai Senior High School leaver in Sekondi, was kidnapped on 4th December 2018 at Butumegyabu Junction in Takoradi.
Piscilla Mantebea Kuranchie, 15, a first-year student of Sekondi College, was kidnapped on 21st December 2018 at a spot near Nkroful Junction and the fourth victim, Ruth Abakah, a former student of Diabene Senior High School, was last seen on July 29, 2018.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi