FCT Police nab three high-profile kidnap suspects behind Abuja-Kaduna abductions

...Suspects confess to executions, prolonged captivity in Kaduna forests

The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested three notorious suspects alleged to be behind a string of violent kidnappings and killings in Abuja and parts of Kaduna State.

Security sources revealed to Zagazola Makama that the arrests were made on Saturday, 29 June, during a coordinated intelligence-led operation by the elite Scorpion Squad, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, Victor O. Godfrey.

The suspects, Abdulkadir Abubakar of Mpape in the FCT, Mohammed Tasiu Sani of Rigina in Kaduna State, and Suleiman Jibrin, aged 27, from Sabon-Gayan, Kaduna, were apprehended between 5:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. following weeks of covert surveillance and forensic tracking.

All three men, of Fulani background, had been on the command’s most-wanted list for months due to their alleged involvement in high-profile abduction operations, particularly around Jere, Kajuru, and other vulnerable corridors linking the FCT to Southern Kaduna.

During interrogation, police investigators disclosed that the suspects confessed to abducting numerous victims and holding them in fortified camps hidden deep within the Kachia and Rigina forests of Kaduna State. Some hostages, according to the suspects, were kept for several months, while others were reportedly killed in captivity.

Abdulkadir Abubakar is said to have given chilling details of internal executions carried out within the gang, targeting members suspected of betrayal or seen as threats to the group's leadership.

Security personnel confirmed that the suspects are cooperating with investigators and have begun leading tactical units to locations where arms are concealed and where other gang members are believed to be hiding.

The FCT Police Command described the arrests as a “major breakthrough” in its campaign to dismantle kidnapping syndicates operating along the FCT-Kaduna axis, a region that has remained a hotspot for abductions-for-ransom in recent years.

Authorities assured residents that operations will be intensified, adding that the command is relying on advanced technology, local intelligence, and inter-agency collaboration to eliminate criminal networks endangering public safety.