The Edo Government has declared that some residents of the state are in the practice of recruiting herders for kidnapping business in the state.
The State Commissioner for Public Safety and Security, Festus Ebea, stated this on Wednesday in Benin during the monthly briefing organised by the state’s Ministry for Information and Strategy.
Ebea said that some residents under the guise of recruiting herders to rear their cows bring criminal elements into the state for kidnap business.
“From our security lenses, we have found out that some of our youths now keep herdsmen and the terrorists in their houses and point out to them where there is business to do,” he said.
He revealed that some suspects who have been arrested by the security have confessed that they were brought into the state by some youths saying: “Both the accomplices and kidnappers have confessed to how they were brought in and housed.”
He explained that the state government is doing its bits to tackle insecurity, remarking that 500 forest guards have been employed and are undergoing training to secure the forests across the state, adding that the Federal Government recently approved an additional 500.
