There are strong indications that the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) on Saturday, December 27, 2025, arrested the leader of the gang and another, who kidnapped and murdered a prominent professor of neurology, Ekanem Philip Ephraim in 2023.
The gang leader, Patrick Essien Etim, 23, and his accomplice, Bassey Antiha Asuquo, 40, were apprehended at a medical facility in Cross River State while planning to kidnap another medical bigwig.
According to a credible security source, the DSS had been tracking the kidnap ring since Ephraim’s killing in July 2023, when gunmen posing as patients abducted her.
It was further gathered that the arrested Etim and Asuquo have confessed to the crime, and admitted that they killed Professor Ephraim after collecting multiple ransom payments from her family.
The source said; “It has been two years of torment for her loved ones, not knowing what happened to the Professor. I believe that, with this arrest, her family and loved ones will be able to finally have some peace with the needed closure that they deserve”.
It was also gathered that the suspects also owned up to kidnapping other victims and vandalizing electricity cables, with one Isaac Ekpeyong, who was also arrested by the operatives.
It would be recalled that Professor Ekanem was abducted on July 13, 2023 by unknown gunmen who posed as patients at her private clinic at Atimbo Road, Calabar.
Her kidnap sparked statewide protests by the Cross River State chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) which embarked on an indefinite strike that crippled the health sector for over a week, in a bid to prevail on government to rescue the late Professor.
According to the source; “This huge breakthrough underscores the commitment of the DSS in reverting to covertness in its operations and restoring public safety across the country”.
