Follow Us on Google
• How the police turned the tide against FCT kidnappers
By Abubakar Yakubu, Abuja
• Suspected kidnappers being paraded by the police in Abuja recently (Insect: Weapons and ammunition recovered from kidnappers being displayed by the Force Public Relations Officer, Asst. Commissioner, Olumuyiwa Adejobi in Abuja recently)
Kidnapping, which used to be a lucrative business for criminals months ago in Abuja, has now become their biggest nightmare, especially with the synergy formed between the police and the military which has led to the decimation as well as apprehension of numerous kidnap kingpins and their members.
Several months back, the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu appeared to have been jolted by the series of kidnap attacks on homes in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and the abduction of family members, including little children, who were taken into the forest and their freedom traded with ransoms paid.
• A kidnapped victim being freed last year by the military along Kaduna road
The last straw for the kidnappers was when, in order to press home their seriousness for ransoms from families of abducted persons, they murdered Nabeeha Al-Kadriyat, a 400-level Biological Sciences student of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria; Talatu Salihu, a 500-level Library and Information Science student of Bayero University Kano; Folorunsho Ariyo, a 13-year-old secondary school student, and Akpagher Joseph Terzungwe, a 32-year-old barman. Their bodies were dumped at a junction at Idaah junction, along the Bwari-Jere road on Kaduna Road on January 12.
The FCT Commissioner for Public Complaints, Dalhatu Ezekiel was the first to raise his voice by asking the Federal Government to prioritise the area’s security situation and declare a state of emergency in the FCT. The gory display of the corpses elicited public outcry that prompted FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, to seek audience with President Tinubu, who in turn invited him to a meeting with security chiefs where a plan was hatched to reduce drastically the activities of the criminals.
Within a few days of the public display of the corpses, numerous numbers of brand new Hilux vans loaded with motorcycles were seen heading for Bwari Area Council of the FCT. Also dispatched were many military personnel who began climbing and combing the mountains to flush out the hoodlums.
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, also launched the Special Intervention Squad and charged the squad to combat insecurity in Abuja. The squad members were immediately sent to the mountains to join the military in the operation. And, within a few days, a large number of captives were rescued and kidnappers either eliminated or arrested.
Other measures adopted by the police included the raiding of black spots by a squad formed by the FCT Police Commissioner, Benneth C. Igweh.
The police commissioner personally led the tactical teams of the Command in the newly launched Operation Velvet to raid a marked black spot at Gidan Dambe, along the Dei-Dei -Zuba axis of the FCT, and arrested 307 suspects.
During the raid, one English pistol with 15 rounds of 9mm ammunition was recovered from one Ibrahim Tukur who claimed to be a personnel of the Department of State Service. Other exhibits such as motorcycles, wraps of marijuana, illicit substances and valuables suspected to have been stolen from innocent residents were equally recovered.
The FCT police spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, a Superintendent of Police, later notified FCT residents that Operation Velvet was launched on February 10 and comprises all the tactical teams of the Command with a mandate to curb all forms of vehicular criminality (a.k.a. one chance) and other crimes in the territory. She said the Commissioner of Police had further warned the team against extortion of residents and to adopt professionalism in the discharge of their lawful duties.
Most residents spoken to by Saturday Sun wondered why the police had to wait until lives were lost before showing their capabilities.
“The basic function of the police is to prevent crime and that is why intelligence has to be deployed at all times to monitor the FCT,” a resident, Ikechukwu Obi, stated.
Another resident, Julie Anayo, who marvelled at how water-tight the security of the FCT has become, lamented the deaths caused by the kidnappers before the security chiefs could sit up to their responsibilities.
Saturday Sun learnt that the police action had started paying dividends with the arrest of three Bwari-based kidnappers – Idris Ishaku, 27; Bala Umar, 27, and Dahiru Salisu, 27 – who were paraded by the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
They were alleged to be responsible for a series of armed robbery cases and kidnapping incidents at Bwari as well as other parts of the FCT.
Again, after a report of the abduction of a victim from his house along with his Hilux Van, with registration number RBC 90 DL by four armed men, police operatives through intelligence-propelled investigation discovered that the victim was being taken to Kano State. He was dispossessed of his ATM cards at Kaduna where N500,000 was transferred from his account.
The suspects were intercepted by the police operatives at a filling station in Kaduna where one Chinaza Philip Okoye Michael was arrested and the other three gang members fled.
The police operatives of the FCT Police Command attached to Anti-Kidnapping Unit, acting on credible intelligence, arrested one Buhari Muhammad, 20, a wanted kidnap kingpin; Muhammad Sabiu, 20, Isah Abdullahi , Hamzat Musa, 21, with two females, Fatima Abdullahi, 22, and Zuliat Yusuf, 23, at a hotel in Bassa Village of FCT.
The suspects, according to the FCT police spokesperson, were responsible for the abduction of one Joshua Eze, the husband of Blessing Eze, who suffered a bullet injury in the process of her husband’s abduction on January 27. The husband was rescued unhurt by police operatives. The items recovered from the suspects include an AK-47 rifle, 10 mobile phones, N345,000 and some other valuables.
Police detectives from the command also arrested one Ulagu Philemon Chukwuma, 29, for allegedly masterminding the kidnap of the 12-year-old son of his boss, Justin Nwakwo, on February 10 at Jabi, Abuja.
Philemon, who was employed as a chef to the Nwakwo family, was arrested immediately after the abduction by detectives from the Utako Police Divisional Headquarters.
The chef was said to have confessed to the crime and named one Mc Donald Arinze, who is at large, as his conspirator. The police disclosed further that the suspects had earlier forcefully obtained N3.9 million as ransom from the victim’s father.
The police said following intense investigation, the boy was rescued unhurt, reunited with his parents and the ransom recovered.
Also, detectives of the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Bureau – Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT), acting on intelligence reports, in the early hours of February 9, at about 2:40am, successfully attacked, neutralised and eliminated many notorious kidnappers, including a kidnap kingpin identified as Musa Wada (Sabo) Magaji, in an operation conducted around Mpape, Abuja.
The team also destroyed the camps of the dreaded kidnappers who had been a thorn in the flesh of Abuja residents in recent times.
According to the police, the armed bandits engaged the police operatives in a gun duel that lasted about 30 minutes, which left many of the bandits fatally injured, while one of the police operatives sustained bullet wounds.
“This significant achievement follows closely on the heels of the neutralisation of Abubakar Wada, an associate of Musa Wada, on February 8, 2024, who served as a lead to their hideout. Musa Wada, aka Sabo, was the mastermind behind numerous kidnappings for ransom activities plaguing areas including Mpape and Bwari in the FCT; Kagarko in Kaduna; Masaka, and Nukun Village in Nasarawa State. His modus operandi involved identifying wealthy targets and mobilising armed gangs to carry out abductions for ransom,” the police spokesman added.
He said the successful raid on their hideout, situated at the outskirts of Mpape Hills, led to the recovery of mobile phones, multiple SIM cards, charms and hard drugs.
“Efforts are on to recover additional arms and ammunition and other equipment they use for their nefarious operations,” he stated.
The police, in the early hours of February 8, equally neutralised some notorious kidnappers and gun runners, who had been terrorising Abuja, Kaduna, Kogi, and Nasarawa states at their hideout around Gitata, along Keffi- Gidan Wire Road in Nasarawa State. Similarly, four AK47 rifles, dangerous weapons, and a bag of ammunition were recovered. Some of the eliminated suspects were also accused of supplying arms to bandits operating within the same axis.
The big break for the police at the FCT Command came on February 24 when the second most wanted kidnapper, Samaila Wakili Fafa (a.k.a. Habu Ibrahim) was arrested at about 7:05 pm.
Acting on credible intelligence, police operatives had stormed the Sardauna Forest in Toto, Nasarawa State, and arrested the kidnap kingpin, who had been on the wanted list of the Command for a long time, and is one of the kidnappers that had a bounty placed on his head by the FCT minister. The other wanted kidnapper who has a bounty placed on him is Saidu Abdulkadir, a.k.a Dahiru Adamu.
Superintendent Adeh, the FCT police spokesperson, disclosed that the suspect confessed that his syndicate masterminded and executed several kidnappings in the FCT and its environs, including the abduction of Barr. Chris Agidy, the legal aide to Senator Ned Nwoko, and Mr Sunday Yahaya Zakwai, the district head of Ketti Village who were later killed by them.
She said Samaila Wakili further led police operatives to where the remains of Barr. Chris Agidy was kept, adding that the remains was recovered and deposited at the Gwagwalada General Hospital.
According to her, investigation are still ongoing and the Commissioner of Police FCT, Benneth C. Igwe, had enjoined residents to report suspicious activities through the following emergency lines: 08032003913, 08061581938, 07057337653, and 08028940883; PCB: 09022222352.
However a police source who pleaded anonymity decried the way and manner kidnapped victims’ relatives hide information from the police. “They don’t tell us when they are taking ransoms to kidnappers or allow us to interview released victims,” he lamented. The source appealed to the public to always have confidence in the police, adding that if they are not sure of the integrity of the rank and file policemen, they could always approach the divisional police officers to divulge information.
