Police Arrest Suspected Kidnap Kingpin, Others In Niger

A suspected kidnap kingpin and killer has been arrested by the police in Niger State.

Public Relations Officer of the Police Command In Niger, Wasiu Abiodun, said the man, identified as Bashiru Abdullahi, was arrested in Kontagora Local Government Area of the state.

He was arrested around 4:30 pm on July 14 by the police tactical team attached to the Minna Area command while trying “to recruit armed men needed to perpetrate his usual kidnapping escapades”, the police said.

In a statement on Saturday, Abiodun said the 40-year-old suspect is a native of Bangi town, which is the headquarters of Mariga LGA.

During interrogation, the suspect confessed to his involvement in the kidnapping and that he was planning to kidnap a former local government chairman for N10m, according to the statement.

The statement said he “claimed that the former chairman owed him about N5.8 million and that if the former chairman was kidnapped, he intended to collect N10 million as ransom from him.

“He further confessed that part of his plan was to equally kidnap the father of the former Commissioner whom he owes about one million, three hundred thousand naira (N1,300,000) from a business transaction between them while he was expecting to get fifteen million naira ransom from the plan.”

According to the police, further investigation revealed that sometime in March 2022, Bashiru is suspected to have murdered his younger brother, identified as Alhaji Mamuda Abdullahi aged 35 of Bangi.

“When he was interrogated, he confessed to the act (saying) that he contributed money with his brother to the tune of seventy-nine million naira (N79 million) for a business purpose, but he suspected that his brother swindled him and he hit him with a stick on the head which resulted in his death,” the police said.

“However, he told the family members that his brother was attacked and killed by bandits at Beri.”

The police believe the suspect is involved in other criminal acts and an investigation is ongoing to determine that and arrest other suspected members of his gang.

In a separate operation, the police in Niger arrested two suspects for criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide, and robbery.

The police PRO identified the suspects as Mohamed Ndako and Mohammed Aliyu, both from Emitachigi Village in Katcha Local Government. Both men are based in the Gurara area of the Niger State capital, Minna.

According to him, the police operatives trailed the suspects to Paiko and arrested them when they were in the process of disposing of a stolen motorcycle.

He said, “During interrogation, Mohammed Aliyu confessed that on 13/07/2022 at about 2030hrs, he was at Gurara junction where he boarded a motorcycle to convey him to Gurara area and on reaching a point within the area, the suspect hit the motorcyclist who is by name Garba Aliyu ‘m’ of Barikichi area, Minna with a hammer on the head and fell unconscious.

“The suspect went away with the victim’s motorcycle and later joined Mohammed Ndako in his residence within the area, while both of them took the motorcycle to Paiko for sale, where they were apprehended.

“The two suspects confessed further to have conspired and stole a motorcycle at Bida within last year (2021) and the motorcycle was sold at the rate of forty thousand naira (N40,000) to a yet-to-be-identified person at Paiko.

“Two motorcycles were recovered from the suspects, one belonging to the deceased while the suspect Mohammed Aliyu claimed that the other motorcycle belonged to his brother.”

The suspects will be prosecuted after the completion of the investigation.