The FBI has charged 24-year-old Nigerian, Damilola Bamigboye, for allegedly abducting an agent of the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to avoid deportation, according to court documents reviewed by Peoples Gazette.
Bamigboye, who was under surveillance for overstaying his student visa, reportedly turned a routine arrest into a hostage situation on December 10, involving an accomplice, Rekeya Frazier.
According to the FBI, agents monitoring Bamigboye at his Plymouth, Minnesota apartment identified him in a Kia Optima. When officers approached, Bamigboye allegedly grabbed Frazier, who was driving, and ordered her to flee.
“He yelled at Frazier, ‘Drive! Drive! Drive! Get in the car and drive now,’ or words to that effect,” FBI Special Agent Terry Getsch wrote in a report.
During the ensuing struggle, one agent was carried along inside the Jeep as Bamigboye attempted to escape.
The situation ended when Frazier parked the vehicle at the New Hope Police Department, allowing law enforcement to take control.
Bamigboye fled briefly into a nearby store but was arrested shortly after, while Frazier was later detained by uniformed officers.
Bamigboye initially denied recognizing the officers as law enforcement but later admitted struggling with an agent and instructing Frazier to drive away.
He attributed his actions to post-traumatic stress disorder from a previous kidnapping in Nigeria.
The FBI stated it had probable cause to believe that Bamigboye and Frazier intended to abduct a federal officer and violated federal law, citing Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 111.
Bamigboye has been arraigned before federal magistrate judge David Schultz in Hennepin County, Minnesota, and is facing charges of resisting arrest and kidnapping of a federal agent.
