How we made N180million from 3 kidnap operations — Suspect

A 25-year-old suspected sea pirate, Tony Ebiyepade, has narrated how him and his gang made millions of Naira kidnapping foreigners. The suspect was recently arrested alongside two others, in connection with the kidnapping of four Americans sometime in 2020.

According to The Sun, he said, “In 2007, we abducted 10 foreigners, seized their ship and drove them to Ebono River in Calabar. We kept them inside their ship hidden in creeks for a week till a sum of N100 million was paid.


The second one was in Badagry area in Lagos State. We got information that some foreigners from Benin Republic were buying our products illegally, so we struck. We got them and seized their vessel and took them to one creek in Koloma Fish Town in Bayelsa. The vessel was fully loaded. We negotiated with the real owner and he paid us N45 million and the vessel was released with the content intact.

The third was another set of sailors that we took to Akwa Ibom. Those ones did not waste time before paying the N35 million for ransom because they cannot report the matter to anyone. They were in Nigeria illegally; the legal ones are normally heavily armed and they receive escorts from Nigeria Navy when they enter our waters.

Others, including the foreigners, are here to make quick money and leave. That is why we kidnap them so that we can get our own share. Many of them are in different camps waiting for ransom to be paid and police or navy are not even aware. They make billions illegally, so they are willing to give us our own share.”