Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo
The Taraba State Police Command on Friday paraded 22-year-old Abdul Basit Umar, a 100-level student of Computer Science of Adamawa State University, Yola, for kidnapping his ten-year-old younger sister, Amina Umar.
The suspect was arrested alongside two of his accomplices, Sadiq Dalhatu Sani (21) and Abdullahi Habib (27).
Umar, revealed that his purpose for staging the kidnap of his sister was to make his father cough out N10 million so that he could travel abroad. “I know that if I kidnapped my sister, my father would pay the ransom of N10 million. My aim was if I got the money, I would go abroad.”
While parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Jalingo, alongside other 19 suspects, arms and ammunition, a vehicle and other accessories recovered from the suspects, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) ASP David Misal, said that “the mastermind of the crime, Abdu Basit Umar, who happen to be a biological brother to the victim had on the said date, criminally conspired with other suspects and lured the innocent girl into a Blue Honda Hennessy car with registration no MKF 67JK Kaduna, and took her to Dove Hotel Mayo Dassa, where she was held captive.
“The suspects contacted the family and demanded a ransom of M10m. The kidnappers later accepted to collect the sum of M4m while in the process of collecting the ransom at Wuro-Sambe on the outskirts of Jalingo, they were tracked and promptly arrested while the victim was rescued.”
Misal said that “the Commissioner of Police, Taraba State Command, Alkassim Sanusi, wishes to reiterate the unwavering commitment of officers and men in fighting all forms of violent crimes and uses this medium to seek the cooperation of all and sundry by providing information to the police that would lead to tackling crime and criminality in the state. Parents and guardians are enjoined to watch over their wards and always ensure their movement to school and errands are secure in order to avert any possible act of kidnapping or related crime.”
His other accomplice, Sadiq Sani, a 300-level Geology student of Modibbo Adama University, Yola, revealed that he has been a childhood friend of Abdu Basit, who sought his assistance for the act to be accomplished.
Our correspondent reports that Taraba State had witnessed an upsurge in the rate of kidnapping that recently made its way into the state capital and had instilled unprecedented fears into the people.