Another 40 suspected kidnappers nabbed on Abuja-Kaduna highway

The police, on Thursday, paraded another set of 40 suspected kidnappers said to be terrorising passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna highway, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has reported.

They were arrested in the Rijana area of the highway in Kaduna State.

Last week, 32 suspected kidnappers were arrested in the same highway, bringing those arrested so far to 72.

The suspects were: Ali Bello, said to be the leader of the gang, Guma Shehu, 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 included: 10 double-barrelled guns, two single barrel guns, 30 live cartridges, 10 9mm ammunition and cell phones.

Others were wristwatches, jewellery, 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 had made confessional statements to the police on the various roles each of them played in the commission of the crime along the route.

Moshsood added that the suspects would be arraigned in court on completion of investigation.

He stated further that the police would continue to build on the current successes to ensure that the last kidnapper was removed from the highway.

He enjoined members of the communities to always avail police with 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.

It will be recalled that the Force had on July 25 begun ‘Operation Absolute Sanity’ on Abuja-Kaduna Highway.

The team included police mobile force, Counter Terrorism Squad, Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Intelligence Response Team, Special Tactical Squad, Force Intelligence Branch and Police Helicopters.

The operations were 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.