Militants kidnap Portuguese engineer in Ondo

Militants operating in Ondo State have kidnapped an expatriate engineer working with Picolo Construction Company.

Mr. Luis Jose Rentad, a Portuguese, was reportedly abducted at Ajagba town in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State on Friday while working at a site.

It was gathered that the abductors, numbering about 50 and fully armed with sophisticated weapons and explosive materials, stormed Ajagba in five motorised boats and forcibly took Rentad away to an unknown abode.

Rentad was said to be the only expatriate at the site as at the time the kidnappers struck.

The construction company is executing a road that will link Irele with Ese-Odo and Ilaje Local Government Areas.

A source told our correspondent that the abductors had demanded a huge amount as ransom before they would release Rentad. He added that negotiations were still on as at Sunday.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Adeniran Aremu, told our correspondent that Rentad would be released very soon “as serious efforts were on the way to effect his release.”

It was learnt that the Chairman of the Irele Local Government Area, Chief Akintoye Albert, was also making moves to secure the release of the expatriate.

The road contract, which has come under heavy criticisms mostly by the Ilaje, was awarded by the state government but was paid for with the fund allocated to the Ondo State Oil Producing Area Development Commission.

Ilaje and Ese-Odo local government areas are the two councils which the OSOPADEC has the mandate to develop.

Some hoodlums last year sacked a police station in Irele and went away with all the arms and ammunition in the station. A militant group, however, came to the rescue of the police.

The militant group, after some weeks, recovered the arms and ammunition and returned them to the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Charles Dawodu.