Police arrest 40 more suspected kidnappers

The Nigeria Police Force said it had arrested 40 suspects in connection with Kidnapping and armed robbery in Rijana area of Kaduna State.

The suspects are : Ali Bello, the leader of the gang, Guma Shehu, a vicious and notorious criminal, Daniel Iwobi, Bashir Haruna, Aminu Mohammed,Buba Takuti, Egwuonu Ogiri, Abba Aliyu and Abdullahi Adamu among others.

The Force Spokesman, CSP Jimoh Moshood who disclosed this at a news conference on Thursday in Rijana , said some of the suspects had been identified by their victims.

He said that items recovered from them include: 10 double barrel guns, two single barrel guns, 30 live cartridges, 10 9mm ammunition and assorted cell phones.

Others are: wrist watches, jewelries, two magazines, 10 locally made Sub-Machine Guns, three AK 47 rifles, five laptop computers, three Ipads and one revolver pistol .

Moshood said that in the process of arresting the suspects, the police were able to locate their camp and equally rescue some of their victims.

“Most of these suspects we are parading today were arrested during the act,” he said.

The spokesman said that the suspects belonged to different groups that operated at different locations on the Kaduna- Abuja highway.

The spokesman said the suspects have made confessional statements to the police on the various roles each of them played in the commission of the crime along the route.

The spokesman said the suspects would be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.

He said that the police would continue to build on the current successes to ensure that the last kidnapper was removed from the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

He enjoined members of the communities to always avail police with vital information to provide security for them, adding that the operation would be sustained to curtail crime across the country.

Moshood said that the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Ibrahim Idris, had commended members of the community for their support.

A resident of the community, Mr Labaran Abu, who spoke to newsmen, called for the sustenance of the operation along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

Abu said that the community would have some respite with the coming of the security personnel to the area.

He said that members of the community were ready to give police all the necessary information for provision of security.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Force had on July 25 begun ‘Operation Absolute Sanity’ on Abuja-Kaduna Highway.

The team include: Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Squad, Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Intelligence Response Team, Special Tactical Squad, Force Intelligence Branch and Police Helicopters.

The operations is to complement the on-going Joint Police/Military operations on ground before now.

The police had also on July 31 arrested 31 suspects at Katari area along the Kaduna-Abuja road.