Anthony Iwuoma
A 36-year-old kidnap suspect, who was accused of kidnapping and plotting to kill his cousin, was among the 48 alleged criminal elements paraded on Tuesday by the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force.
Haliru reportedly planned to kill his cousin, one Binta Mohammed, 48, who gave him a loan for the purchase of tricycles, which he defaulted in repaying.
It was gathered that he lured Binta to the kidnappers and instructed them to extort money from her before killing her.
“But fortunately for her, she escaped from the kidnappers’ hideout in Jigawa on the first day of her captivity and reported the matter to the police, which led to the arrest of the suspect,” the Force Public Relations Officer, CP Frank Mba, who paraded the suspects in Abuja, said.
The other suspects were accused of robbery, kidnapping, culpable homicide and car theft.
Mba also warned kidnap victims against “struggling with their kidnappers but they should cooperate so as to be rescued by the police.”
He added: “Most victims of kidnap- for-ransome are persons related to their captors. The police and other sister security agencies are not relenting in their actions and we are closing in on these criminally-minded persons.”
The police also paraded two other suspected kidnappers, Salisu Abdullahi 28, and Babangida Usman, 21, who were alleged to be members of the gang that reportedly kidnapped a professor at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi and the owner of a filling station in Kaduna State.
The same gang was said to have been responsible for the abduction of a Catholic priest, Fr. Tony Bawa, who was later released.
Also paraded were three armed robbery suspects, Abel Namfa, 23, Nankum Wasiu,32 and Jonah Patrick,25.
They were arrested in Jos, Plateau State for allegedly dispossessing a man of his Toyota Corolla car and selling it to procure AK47 rifles and other dangerous weapons.
The gang members were also said to have carried out various robbery operations on the highways for over seven years and have all been imprisoned at one time or another before their latest arrest.
Exhibits recovered from them include one General Purpose Machine Gun, three AK47 rifles, 10 laptops and live ammunition.