Alleged kidnappers of lawmaker in police net

The Nigeria police yesterday paraded three suspected kidnappers, who kidnapped a member of the House of Representatives, Sani Bello, representing Mashi/Dutsi federal constituency of Katsina State, in his farm along Kaduna-Abuja road on August 2, 2016.

The suspects: Haruna Adamu, 25, who is the gang leader; Shaibu Adamu, 18, and Abubakar Saidu, 30, were paraded at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, yesterday.

The suspects confessed to collecting a ransom of N10 million, which was shared among the six people involved in the kidnap. Exhibits recovered from them are N250,000 buried in the ground in a bush at one of the suspects’ village and a mobile phone, used for negotiation.

The spate of kidnapping around the village Bello was abducted has earned Birnin Gwari axis a notorious reputation as the hub of kidnappers. Bello was released on August 5, after payment of the ransom.

Parading the suspects, the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Don Awunah, said the suspects were part of the notorious kidnap for ransom gang linked to kidnapping and violent crimes along Kaduna-Abuja expressway and its environs.

“They were arrested after painstaking investigation by the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Inspector General of Police, IGP’s monitoring unit.

“The suspects were trailed and rounded up at Ungwan Kawu village in Dan Dumi Local Council of Katsina State. During interrogation, the suspects voluntarily confessed to committing the offence and also admitted to the various roles individually and collectively played in their criminal enterprise.

“One of the suspects, Shaibu Adamu led operatives to a location in the nearby village (Kawu village) where he buried part of the ransom money. The sum of N250,000 in a polythene bag was recovered and marked as exhibit,” he said.

Leader of the suspected kidnappers, the older Adamu, speaking in Hausa, said they actually collected N10 million from Bello, who has being in the House of Representative since 2011.

He noted that they have a leader that knows the bigwigs. He is the one who coordinates the kidnapping by identifying the target and negotiating the ransom.