How police took down Borno kidnap syndicate using their mobile phones
“The abductor and syndicate demanded N20 million through text message sent to the mother of the child,” Chukwu said.
Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
Three members of a kidnap syndicate, who had abducted the four-year-old son of the chairman of the Borno APC, have been arrested by police in Maiduguri and Kano, after tracking their mobile phones.
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Borno State Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu made the disclosure at a press briefing in Maiduguri on Monday, recounting how 4-year-old Kashim Dalori, son of Ali Bukar Dalori, was kidnapped at his school in Maiduguri on September 19 by a lady.
“A lady identified as Fatima Mohammed kidnapped Kashim Dalori in his school and took him to a hotel in town where she was lodged. The abductor and syndicate subsequently demanded N20 million through text message sent to the mother of the child,” Chukwu said.
The Commissioner explained that the father of the child was encouraged to raise the money and take it to Kano, where the two other conspirators were waiting for collection. But unknown to the syndicate, the Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team was waiting to arrest them.
“Members of the syndicate, Mohammed Shehu Musa and Muktar Goni Shuaibu, both of Bulumkutu area of Maiduguri, were arrested in Kano at a point of collection of the N20 million,” the CP disclosed.
He said the arrest was made possible through tracking of the suspect’s mobile phones.
The two suspects arrested in Kano then gave the contact of Fatima, the lady who kidnapped young Kashim.
“The federal SARS in our command picked her up in a hotel in Maiduguri with the four-year-old victim.
She confessed to having committed the crime,” the police chief said, adding that the syndicate would be charged to court.
The Commissioner urged Maiduguri residents to beware of kidnappers on the prowl. He said the police have invited the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to sensitise their members on the need to be more sensitive and vigilant.
Another child, an 8-year-old offspring of the APC chairman of Askira/Uba local government area, was also kidnapped last Friday at his school in Maiduguri, but was later released, according to Chukwu.
The Police Commissioner said the abductors “apparently sensed danger and hurriedly abandoned” the victim on a road in the city after about five hours in their custody.