ONE of the suspected kidnappers of the Deputy High Commissioner of Siera Leone to Nigeria, Major General Alfred Claude Nelson, Alhaji Rabiu Yusuf, on Monday, alleged that he collected only N1.5 million from his two victims.
The police said that with a coordinated operation based on intelligence and technical support, the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Nigeria Police smashed an 11-man kidnap gang that had for some time now terrorised Kaduna State, the FCT and other North-Central states of Nigeria.
According to the police, the gang was responsible for the abduction of the Sierra-Leonean Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Major General Alfred Claude-Nelson, on June 30, the Executive Director of Dangote Group and many other high profile kidnap for ransom in recent times.
Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Don Awunah, while parading the suspects disclosed that their modus operandi includes mounting road blocks on highways in military uniforms, surprise attack on unsuspecting motorist and relocating from one point to other in the forest with their victims to avoid detection and arrest.
DCP Awunah disclosed that in order to halt the apparent trend in the increase of kidnap for ransom, armed robbery and other anti-social behaviours, the Inspector-General of Police, Ag. IGP Ibrahim Idris, has reorganised the tactical operations teams to tackle crime and criminality throughout the country.
Towards this end, he said that the IRT of the IGP Monitoring Unit, on July 2, carried out tactical surveillance of the Abuja-Kaduna axis and all the adjoining states.
According to him, this coordinated operation led to the arrest of 11 members of the notorious gang that has been terrorising the North-Central states of the country with arms and ammunition recovered from them.
The suspected kidnappers are Alhaji Rabiu Yusuf (45), Garba Abubakar (27), Yusuf Adamu (20), Hussaini Musa (25), Shuaibu Idris (35), Usman Bello (20), Musa Ali (45), Muhammadu Abubakar (30), Suleiman Abubakar (25), Gambo Ibrahim (25) and Balarabe Mohammadu (32).
He said the response team also recovered three AK 47 rifles, three AK 47 rifle magazines loaded with 90 rounds of ammunition, two sets of military camouflage uniforms.
DCP Anwunah added that investigations are ongoing and the suspects will be charged to court as soon as it is concluded.
Also the Ag. IGP Ibrahim Idris has ordered the same intelligence based operations throughout the federation to flush out criminal elements.
Consequently he has directed the state Commissioners of Police and Technical/Operation Commanders to improve the response rate on issues of crimes and criminality, assuring law-abiding citizens of protection of their fundamental human rights.
Idris assured all members of the diplomatic community of their safety and adequate security in Nigeria while crime prevention, management and control must be approached from the perspective of collective responsibility.