A collaboration between police and telecom giant, MTN has led to the arrest of a 26-year old man who kidnapped two children from the KNUST Primary School.
Collins James Kodah, a native of Navrongo in the Upper East Region was arrested at his Asante Ayem Agogo hideout with two children he kidnapped from the school on Friday.
He had earlier demanded a ransom from the parents before he released the children aged 7 and 9.
READ ALSO: Youth called on to desist from occultism and peer pressure
But a swift intervention from police with the support of MTN led to the arrest of the suspect and subsequent release of the children.
The two brothers (name withheld), could not be traced after school on Friday.
Several attempts to search for them yielded no results.
Their father, Abraham Osei, a lecturer at KNUST was issued with a police extract for announcements to be made on local radio stations after lodging a complaint with the KNUST police.
It was not until Saturday when the suspect called Mr. Osei and demanded a GHC 2000 ransom before the release of his children.
MORE TO READ: Parliament urged to pass law on teenage pregnancy
“He (Mr. Osei informed us that he got a call from a number that he had the children and so he should deposit Gh 2000 into an account so that he release them. We also advised him as to what to do,” Ashanti regional commander, COP Ken Yeboah said.
Kodah who is being charged for kidnapping, first posed as uncle and told the kids he was sending them to their mother and later bought them new clothes and drinks.
According to Mr. Ken Yeboah, it took a collaboration between police and MTN to rescue the children.
ALSO READ: ‘My life in danger; they want to kill me’ – Akua Blakofey
“The following day, we liaised with MTN and because we have that collaboration with them, they were able to locate the kidnapper for us, that he was at Kumawu-Bodomase and we proceeded to Bodomase. We were informed that the kidnapper and the kids came there and slept in a hotel overnight and the next morning, they left the place,” he revealed.
With the support of MTN who monitored the location of the suspect through his active mobile phone, police managed to arrest him in a hotel at Asante Akyem Agogo where he had served the children with drinks.
“We contacted MTN again and they were able to tell us they’ve moved to Agogo and the description that we had, we visited some hotels and then we were able to locate the kidnapper and the two kids. So we were able to rescue them.”
Kodah who graduated in Building Technology from the Kumasi Technical University in 2009 told the police the motive for his actions.
“The motive behind the kidnapping of the kids is that he wanted money. According to him, he got admission to the university last year but unfortunately because of financial difficulties, he couldn’t go and so he needed money to start the process again,” COP Ken Yeboah revealed.
The children who have since reunited with their parents are expected to undergo medical screening.
