A middle-age woman has been arrested by the operatives of the Delta State Police Command for allegedly receiving four million naira from suspected kidnappers.
The suspect who is a Point of Sales (PoS) Operator claimed she was unaware of the criminal activities of the kidnapper, one Timothy Ogenechukwu.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Bright Edafe on his X handle on Thursday said the arrest of the woman was as a result of a developing case of a suspected kidnap ransom transaction.
The PoS operator why been questioned in a video by Edafe, as part of an investigation into a kidnapping incident
explained her side of the story.
According to her, she was contacted by a customer, Ogenechukwu, who had previously conducted smaller transactions with her.
“He has been doing transactions with me, maybe at times 5,000 or 2,000,” she told the police.
However, this time, the transaction was significantly larger, 4 million Naira.
According to her, Ogenechukwu did not provide any clear reason for the massive deposit.
“He only called me that morning and said I should check my account, which I did and saw the huge money sent to me from him.”
She claimed she had no prior knowledge that the money in question was related to criminal activity, specifically a ransom payment from a kidnapping victim.
“I didn’t know,” she said, emphasising that she thought it was another business transaction, similar to their past interactions.
“My profit is 40,000,” she said.
During the interrogation, Edafe pressed her on the nature of her relationship with Ogenechukwu, questioning if she understood the implications of allowing large sums to be transferred through her account.
The officer highlighted that the funds originated from a victim who had been kidnapped and suggested that the PoS operator’s role in receiving and distributing the money could make her complicit in the crime.
he PPRO had earlier in the video warned that PoS operators should be mindful of who they do transactions with, especially if such transactions are relatively high.
He said: “I have been talking and educating people on social media, particularly PoS operators. Any person who wants to do transactions above 500,000 naira should go to the bank.
“Whenever you ask a PoS operator if you are receiving money too much that is unreasonably high, understand that there is an element of crime in it because they are supposed to go to the bank.”
New Telegraph
