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Ngozi Uwujare
Police operatives of “Operation Zenda”, a Special Unit of the Benue State Police Command, have 
arrested four suspected armed robbers and kidnappers for a series of crimes in the state.
The suspects were accused of abducting over ten victims who went for political campaigns in the state.
The command said it had also rescued seven victims from the kidnappers’ hideout in the forest in Igama Village, Okpokwu Local Government Area of the state. A number of sophisticated weapons were also recovered, including pump action rifles, AK47 rifles and 100 rounds of ammunitions, among others.
Benue State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Wale Abass told Saturday Sun that the four suspects attacked Igama Village on June 12, 2022, killing some victims and kidnapping others.
“It was “Operation Zenda” that was deployed on June 15, 2022 to the area in collaboration with the local hunters, the vigilantes and other security agents who have been on search operations within the forest.
“The kidnappers who were trapped in the bush engaged the police in a gun duel and the police rescued five victims who were in custody of the kidnappers and this led to the arrest of four suspects – Umar Wuhu, Dauda Alhaji, Musa Dako and Umaru Alhaji Sule.
“One of the suspects, Musa Dako sustained injuries and was admitted at St Mary Hospital, Ikpoga for treatment where he eventually gave up the ghost. Some sophisticated weapons were recovered from their hideout,” CP Abass said.
He further stated that the gang kidnapped victims who went for political campaign in Gboko, Otukpo, and Markurdi axis of the state.
He said immediately the information got to him, he ordered the Commander of “Operation Zenda” and his team to probe the incident and purse the suspects.
“They stormed the hideout and rescued more than seven victims, batch by batch and they had an encounter with some of the kidnappers. Some were shot dead while some escaped with bullets wounds.
“Also on June 20, 2022, my officers ransacked the forest. Two suspects were arrested and they recovered some sophisticated weapons from the suspects which they used in terrorising the state.
“The two suspects arrested are identified as Joseph Nembi, 25, and Mohammed Yusuf, 28. They have confessed that they have terrorised the state for five good years,” said the police boss.
The commissioner further stated that the same gang of armed robbers and kidnappers had, on April 10, 2021 kidnapped a man alongside his wife in Gboko, after which they demanded N5 million ransom. He said they kept the victims for five days, blindfolded them and kept them in captivity.
He said the victim’s family raised N500,000 and that while waiting for the remaining balance, the gang threatened to kill the couple.
“When the case was reported at the Gboko Police Station, the men of “Operation Zenda” swung into action and it took them two days to rescue the victims – husband and wife – while the kidnappers exchanged fire with the operatives which prompted them to abandon the victims and their ammunitions and escaped from their hideout,” he explained.
CP Abass stated that on April 30, 2022, some supporters of a political party went for a campaign rally along the expressway, but noted that five of the campaigners were kidnapped and were quickly marched into the forest. The kidnappers collected the phones of the victims and all their valuable items.
He said it was through information that the police’s Tactical team swung into action and the victims were rescued on that same day.
He said the kidnappers were calling the relatives of the victims and that this prompted police operatives to burst into the forest and rescue the five victims.
CP Abass said the same gang had, on January 7, 2022 robbed some victims along the Markurdi/Enugu Expressway. They collected all their valuable items and abandoned the victims in the bush.
“The police on patrol were alerted and went to the scene to rescue them, but they had been robbed of their phones, money, bag and their goods,’ the commissioner said.
CP Abass further said that the same gang also kidnapped one farmer in Otukpo and took him to their hideout, after which they started demanding N2 million as ransom from his family.
He said the victim pleaded with them to allow him to reach out to his relatives but that the kidnappers refused. But when the victim was at the point of death, he noted, the victim managed to escape. He was later picked up by some local hunters and members of a vigilance group.
He said the operatives of the “Operation Zenda” went to the bush in Makurdi and searched the hideout of the kidnappers. They reportedly recovered some arms, ammunitions, clothes of the victims as well as charms and bags.
He said there has been constant raiding and serious patrol by the team which prompted the arrest of the two suspects.
One of the suspects, 28-year-old Umar Nuhu, spoke with Saturday Sun. He said: “I hail from Zaria Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Our gang is made up of more than 15 armed robbers and kidnappers in the state. We have kidnapped victims in Igama community; we took them to our hideout and demanded ransom worth millions of naira. The victims’ relatives sometimes paid N300,000 and more before we would release them.
“We have been attacked several times by the police operatives and we killed one policeman and the policemen killed five of our gang members. We escaped to a neighbouring state and later we went to regroup. Then we came back to attack the policemen. We didn’t succeed, we had to kidnap five victims who went for a political rally and we took the victims to our hideout. The police engaged us in a gun duel and they overpowered us and rescued the victims and we ran for our lives”.
“It was when we robbed victims who were passengers in Igama, Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue state, that we were chased by “Operation Zenda ‘’ who arrested two of us while our other gang members escaped from the scene. We started our armed robbery in Makurdi. We laid ambush for the victims in Makurdi town and Makurdi/Jos Expressway. We robbed and collected their valuables and left them on the floor. We abandoned them and fled.”
Another suspect, Dauda Alhaji, 27, in a chat with Saturday Sun, also admitted that he had been involved in the alleged criminal activities,
His words: “I am from Kano State. We are over 15 members of our gang of armed robbers and kidnappers. We terrorised the state and robbed victims of their valuable items. We have never killed our victims, rather we hold unto them in captivity for days pending when the ransom is paid. We robbed victims who went for a political rally and also kidnapped victims along Igama community, Gboko and Oju Local Government Area. We took them to our hideout and immediately the police had an encounter with us and rescued the five victims in our custody.
“All the sophisticated weapons which we were using to carry out the operations are in my custody. The arms and ammunitions had been handed over to the police operatives when I was arrested. We didn’t collect any kobo from the victims. Rather we abandoned them when we had an encounter with the police operatives, or sometimes the victims escaped from our custody, when they were almost dead,” he said.
CP Abass said the same gang on April 5, 2022 broke into a house of a victim, one Ibrahim Magari, a lawyer, at new GRA, Makurdi and made away with ATM cards, phones, laptop as well as other belongings. The robbers transferred N300,000 from the victim’s account, using the stolen ATM card.
He said it was a detective team, led by the “Commissioner of Police Monitoring Unit” that swung into action, to trail and arrest the two suspects on June 15, 2022. He gave the names of the suspects as Sapele Great, 27, and Hakeem Joseph Adi.
CP Abass said that the two suspects and other members of the syndicate who are at large were into armed robbery, house breaking and internet fraud and that police recovered some stolen items from them. These include one locally made pistol loaded with nine rounds of 6mm live ammunition, eight phones, suspected to be victims’ property, electronic checking devices, 18 sim cards of different networks and a bank’s ATM card. There was also a bank cheque book belonging to a victim and other electronic devices.
He added that the police operatives in Owupa and Orokan community in the Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State arrested two herdsmen who specialised in kidnapping.
He said the operatives of “Operation Zenda” swung into action and raided all the hideouts and recovered some arms like pump action, AK47 rifles, 35 rounds of cartridges which they used to terrorize the victims in their houses and farms.
CP Abass said the arrested suspects would soon be charged to court. He expressed gratitude to the public for giving the police useful information.
