Police in Akwa Ibom have exhumed the body of a 36-year-old businessman Onyeka Ezewulu killed and buried in a shallow grave in Mbiaso community, Nsit Ibom council area of Akwa Ibom State.
Operatives of Special Tactical Squad (STS) led by CSP Julian Igbodu, on Monday March, 29, 2021, stormed a kidnappers’ hideout in the community following investigation into the disappearance of Ezewulu suspected to have been kidnapped.
The team was accompanied by two police pathologists and the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital (UUTH), who carried out autopsy on the body before it was handed over to the family members for burial.
A middle-aged woman alleged to be a member of the kidnap group Deborah Sunday, who assisted the police to locate their hideout, told reporters that three other gang members on March 5, 2021 ambushed and kidnapped Ezewulu along Idoro Road.
Sunday said Ezewulu attempted to run when the gang closed in on him, and was shot in the right leg, bundled into a Toyota Camry car and taken to the hideout.
She said N2million ransom was paid a day after Ezewulu died from much bleeding.
He was buried in a shallow grave.
One Patrick, a brother to the late Ezewulu, said the China-based businessman was coming to check up on his family and business outlets when he was killed.
He said the family did not know he was already dead while the kidnappers were negotiating his ransom.
Police spokesman Odiko MacDon described the incident as “unfortunate and regrettable”, adding that the three kidnap suspects, who attempted to escape on sighting the police, were gunned down.