By Seyi Odewale
The Nigeria Police Force yesterday in Abuja, said operatives of the Force Intelligence Bureau Special Tactical Squad (FIBSTS), have arrested kidnappers of Greenfield University students, who were abducted in Kaduna last year. The students were taken hostage on April 20, 2021, with five of them brutally murdered.
In a release by the force Public Relations Officer (FPPRO) Muyiwa Adejobi, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), yesterday in Abuja, the FIB-STS, following the directives from the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba to clampdown on the perpetrators of crimes and criminality, and cut off their supply of arms, have successfully arrested 31 suspects connected with major violent crimes including kidnapping, culpable homicide, rape, and unlawful possession of firearms
Among those arrested by the FIB-STS, Adejobi said, were the duo of Aminu Lawal (aka Kano), and Murtala Dawu (aka Mugala), both working in synergy with the kidnap kingpin known as Yellow Ashana, adding that they confessed to the kidnap and murder of two police officers and one vigilante in 2021.
According to Adejobi, they equally confessed to the kidnap of students from the Greenfield University in Kaduna State, and the mindless murder of five victims before the payment of ransom, and eventual release of the others.
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Intelligence, Adejobi said, showed that their area of operations included Dan Hunu, Kekebi, Dan Busha Rido, Maraban Rido, and Kumi Sata, all in Kaduna State. “The FIB-STS operatives caught up with them in March, 2022, after being on their trail upon the mention of their names in connection to the kidnapping of Bethel Baptist School students in 2021,” he said.
Some of the items recovered from them according to Adejobi, were 61 firearms including 41 AK rifles, eight type 06 rifles, four light assault rifles (LAR), four pump action guns, two locally made firearms, one G3 rifle, one dane gun, 376 rounds of live ammunition of different calibres, and the sum of two million naira.
In another development, the FIBSTS similarly arrested a five-man trans-border syndicate, which specialises in carrying out kidnapping operations in between Adamawa State in Nigeria, and Burha, Fituha, and Kesu in Cameroun Republic.
“The gang which comprises Abubakar Mohammed aged 28 years old, Shehu Mohammed aged 38 years old, Abdullahi Ali aged 30 years old, Abubakar Ali, aged 18-year-old, and Hussaini Sule aged 18 years old, all males from Mubi, Adamawa State, targets wealthy individuals, who possess beautiful houses or cars.
“They confessed to the kidnap and multiple rape of a newly wedded woman at Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno State whom they released upon receipt of a million-naira ransom. They were apprehended by operatives of the FIB-STS after collecting a ransom sum of N2 million for one Alhaji Moni of Buladega Village on the 11th of May 2022,” Adejobi said in the statement.
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He also said the FIB-STS operatives equally apprehended the duo of Umar Muhammed aged 40, from Mitchika in Adamawa State, and Musa Buba, 29, from Hong in Adamawa State, who are famous for their kidnapping activities. “They were arrested at the market, upon credible intelligence that they would be there to buy food items for their kidnap victims. They confessed to many heinous crimes including the killing and beheading of one Alhaji Mai Gome, even after ransom payment had been made,” Adejobi said.
He said the IGP, while commending the FIB-STS operatives for the successes recorded, assured that all criminal elements would be smoked out of their hiding places and answer to their crimes in due course.
