The Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT), led by DCP Tunji Disu, has detained three (3) informants for a ring that specialises in kidnapping victims for ransom after the wife and two children of serving lawmaker Hon. Ibrahim Aminu were abducted in Katsina State by gunmen.
The three suspects confessed to the crime during the inquiry, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi stated in a statement.
He said, “Sequel to the intelligence reports on the activities of the deadly criminal gangs, IRT operatives attached to the Operation Restore Hope of the Force in Yankwani village and Kurani town, the team swung into action and arrested the suspects in their various hideouts.”
“Acting on credible information, operatives of the IRT have arrested a deadly kidnap for ransom syndicate who kidnapped the wife and two children of a serving lawmaker Honourable Ibrahim Aminu in Katsina State.
“IRT personnel arrested the key suspects Muttaka Ibrahim, Suleiman Rabiu, and Surajo all male natives of Bakori LGA for allegedly supplying the information that led to the assault on the lawmaker where his family members were taken into captivity.
“During investigation, Muttaka Ibrahim confessed to the crime saying that he and other gang members were informants to Sanni Tukur aka Abacha terrorising the people of the villages and towns in Katsina and Zamfara States.”
Confessions by the bandit’s collaborators led to the kidnap of the wife of Honourable Ibrahim Aminu, and six others persons, the police said.
“Other victims of the criminal syndicate include one Buhari Usman, also known as Fedeco, Nazaradeen Ibrahim, Amandallah Ahmad, Ibrahim Suleiman, Sumayya Nura, and Yahaya Bura who are currently in the captivity of the gang.
“The kidnappers, after kidnapping the wife of the lawmaker Rabi Yusuf and two of his male children all of Bakori LGA had demanded and received eleven million naira and ten million naira for his children at different times” .
According to the police, one of the bandits’ informants, Muttaka Ibrahim, said he recieved a payment of N130,000 from the gang leader adding that one Yusuf Bala of Zaria is his accomplice.
“He also admitted that the bandits’ leader collected a total of six million five hundred thousand naira from the victims they kidnapped at Yankwani town.
“Narrating his ordeal, the lawmaker told Police investigators that he paid a total sum of thirty-seven million and five hundred thousand naira to the gang leader to secure his family member’s release from captivity.”
The FPRO said the suspects are still undergoing investigation by the Police and would be charged to court if found culpable in the crime as alleged by the leader of the team.