Suspected kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Dumeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, has told his interrogators the secrets which had helped him to escape police drag net for seven years.

Evans, who it was learnt, took police to his third detention camp in Lagos recently, said he created multiple identities to be able to be a step ahead of security agents.

This came as the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Ibrahim Idris, disclosed that Evans was arrested based on information sharing and intelligence cooperation among police services in West Africa.

The suspect had earlier boasted to be the lord of the kidnapping world. He said: “To kidnappers out there, you have seen what I’m going through. You have seen it on television and read it in newspapers. For police to have arrested me, the lord of kidnappers, I think there are no other kidnappers out there. Those who are into kidnapping should stop it. Kidnapping doesn’t pay. I have learnt my lesson. I think there are no kidnappers anywhere.”

In living to his claims as the lord of kidnappers, Evans told his interrogators that he had a different name for different state of the federation.

For instance, the suspect is known at his Magodo residence as George but he is Evans in the Lagos criminal world.

“In Edo he is Sunny; in Port Harcourt, he is Richard; in Lagos he is Evans; in Anambra he is Somtu, etc, while some his girlfriends police arrested know him as Mike.

“Security agents in each state are looking for different persons whereas it is the same person. He was doing that just to outsmart security agents. He is extremely intelligent in crime matters,” a source said.

Speaking on Evans’ arrest, Idris said information sharing was crucial to tackling the menace of trans-border crimes in West Africa.

He said: “It is through such exchange that we were able to nab a Ghanaian/Nigerian kidnapper two weeks ago, after evading arrest for many years.”

Idris spoke at an ongoing West Africa international security conference in Accra, Ghana, in a paper entitled: “The role of Nigeria Police in national security and its contributions in West Africa.”

He said: “For several years, Evans terrorised Nigerians and nationals of many countries across West Africa. Efforts to apprehend him did not yield the desired results until we spread our search net wider.”

Idris, according to a statement by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Jimoh Moshood, solicited closer ties among security agencies in the sub-region and emphasised the need to improve the method of monitoring and surveillance, particularly among border and coastal police units.

The IG called for improved communication capabilities among intelligence gathering outfits in West Africa, and called for mutual support to plug loopholes usually exploited by criminals.

He said that the Nigeria Police Force had 300,000 personnel in 127 area commands and 5,303 divisions.