Police nab kidnapping suspect, retrieve ransom in Kaduna

Operatives of the Kaduna State Police Command attached to the Tafa Divisional Headquarters, Kaduna, have arrested a suspected kidnapper and recovered his share of collected ransom.

The state police spokesman, ASP Mansir Hassan, in a statement on Thursday, said, “On the 19th January, 2024, at about 2200 hours, the said Divisional Headquarters was in receipt of a credible information regarding the presence of a suspicious person in Easyway Hotel in Tafa town.

“Operatives led by the Divisional Police Officer stormed the hotel and arrested a certain 28 years old Bello Muhammad from Zamfara State and recovered the sum of two million, three hundred and fifty thousand naira (N2,350,000:00) suspected to be proceeds of kidnapping.”

During the course of investigation, the suspect admitted to being a kidnapper who operates with his gang around Kagarko forest in Kaduna.

“The aforementioned sum is his own share of a ransom collected. Moreover, a check on his mobile phone corroborated the suspect’s confession as pictures of him brandishing an AK-47 rifle in a forest were retrieved,” the statement added.

According to the statement, the said suspect offered the sum of N1 million as bribe to the DPO in a bid to stop further investigation into the case but the police officer rejected the offer.

“Investigation is still ongoing as the suspect is assisting the police with vital information,” the statement added.

The Commissioner of Police Kaduna State Command, CP A.D Ali, while praising the Tafa Division’s operatives, urged them to increase the tempo until crimes and criminality are reduced in the state.

The CP equally tasked hoteliers and other recreation and leisure service operators in the state to always scrutinise the identity of their customers to avoid providing criminals with safe haven.