POLICE THWART KIDNAP PLANS, ARREST THREE SUSPECTS IN ABUJA
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On Saturday, the Nigerian Police announced that they had thwarted the plans of several kidnapping groups to kidnap civilians and students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Niger.
During a press conference in Abuja on Saturday, the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, revealed that three gang members had been taken into custody.
He stated that on January 17, after receiving reliable information, members of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) detained the individuals.
According to Adejobi, on January 15, the IRT obtained reliable information that one of the suspects’ GSM phone, which was being monitored, had called another GSM phone and told the recipient of a plot to conduct a kidnapping operation.
He claims that during the GSM conversation, the suspect allegedly revealed to the receiver that he had extended an invitation to other kidnapping groups and pledged to collaborate with them on the operation.
According to Adejobi, the suspect allegedly called a second individual, who was subsequently identified as a gang member, and told him that a government servant they were holding was an extremely wealthy man with numerous assets.
He warned the gang member that unless he pays a minimum ransom of N50 million, the civil worker will not be released.
According to him, during that same conversation, the suspect admitted that he was still keeping an eye on a polytechnic in Niger with the intention of kidnapping students.
“Investigation has shown that the suspects have been involved in several kidnapping operations in the FCT, including some that happened in the Bwari axis.
“Our operatives are intensifying efforts to rescue the kidnap victims in their captivity and ensure that other members of the gang are arrested,” Adejobi said.
The force spokesman said police operatives have also arrested a suspect on Thursday in Kaduna over armed robbery and kidnapping.
Adejobi stated that the arrest was made in response to a tip that four armed men had kidnapped a guy from his Abuja home and taken off in his Hilux vehicle, which had the license plate RBC 90 DL.
It was reported that the four armed men used their Mercedes-Benz to barricade their victim.
“But luck ran out of them as they were intercepted by police operatives at a filling station in Kaduna where three of them escaped while one was arrested with the Hilux van recovered.
“The victim was being taken to Kano, but they stopped at Kaduna where they dispossessed him of his ATM cards and transferred N500,000 from his account,” he said.
According to the inquiry, two of the four armed men were based in Abuja, he continued.
Adejobi recalled that an FCT High Court had granted bail to the defendant and his accomplices after they had been apprehended in November 2023.
Adejobi refuted the claim that the suspected abductor was killed by gunshot to obstruct the investigation.
“For those who have been spreading rumours on social media, listen carefully now.
“The arrested suspect is still alive on a stretcher because he has bullet injury during the operation but he is alive on a stretcher,” he said.
According to Adejobi, the suspect was detained in Kaduna but turned over to the Police Command in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for additional inquiry.
Furthermore, the police spokesman revealed that 16 suspects have been taken into custody by IRT agents and the FCT Command’s Anti-Violent Crime Unit on suspicion of kidnapping, armed robbery, culpable homicide, and other crimes.
He said all of the suspects had made confessional admissions and were still giving police officers pertinent information to help them apprehend more criminals.
Adejobi reported that the suspects had been found in possession of five AK-47 rifles, eleven pistols, two pump action guns, one English made beretta pistol, 65 rounds of live ammunition for the AK-47, and seven rounds of live ammunition for the beretta pistol, in which they were all recovered from the suspects.
In a connected development, Mr. Ben Igwe, the Commissioner of Police in charge of SIS, announced that members of the squad had been stationed in every FCT region, including Bwari, which has recently had a high number of kidnappings.
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