The Department of State Services (DSS) has secured its seventh death sentence this year following an Adamawa State High Court ruling sentencing three men to death for kidnapping two Catholic priests in February 2025.

Justice Christopher Mapeo, who delivered the judgment on Thursday, found Taledo Demiel, Namomai Medan and Mikaila Yusuf guilty of criminal conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, armed robbery, harbouring a kidnapped person and negotiating to receive ransom for the release of Reverend Fathers Matthew Dutsemi and Abraham Sauman.

The judge sentenced the three defendants to death for kidnapping, armed robbery and other offences.

The latest judgment brings to seven the number of death sentences secured by the DSS in separate cases across the country this year, involving kidnapping, terrorism, armed robbery and other serious crimes.

On May 20, 2026, an Ekiti State High Court sentenced two men, Ibrahim Abubakar and Abdullahi Abubakar, to death by hanging for kidnapping.

About two weeks later, on June 3, a Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced four men to death by hanging for their involvement in the June 2022 massacre of worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.

The convicts were identified as Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Alqasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik and Abdulkareem Idris.

On June 15, a Katsina State High Court sentenced a female arms courier, Hauwa’u Mukhtar, to death by hanging.

The following day, June 16, a Kogi State High Court sentenced Jibrin Halilu to death by hanging for kidnapping and murdering his neighbour in Obajana, an industrial town in the state.

On June 22, a Sokoto State High Court sentenced three men — Muhammed Yusuf Sallau, Jabbi Ahlaji Yale and Kabiru Muhammed — to death by hanging for terrorism-related offences and transporting arms.

More recently, on September 28, a Sokoto State High Court sentenced Ibrahim Usman, also known as Dan Iyali, to death by hanging over his involvement in the killing of three kidnapped persons in the state.

The latest Adamawa judgment adds to the series of convictions recorded in cases prosecuted by the DSS as authorities continue efforts to tackle kidnapping, terrorism and other violent crimes across Nigeria.