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From Molly Kilete, Abuja
The Federal Capital Territory(FCT) Police Command Monday destroyed the operational base used by kidnappers to carry out their nefarious activities in the FCT.
The base located at Paze – Byazhin area of the FCT, is between the boarders of Niger and Kaduna states, was destroyed by the Department of development control of the Federal Capital Development Authority in conjunction with the police.
Before the destruction of the logistic base, the police had on June 11, raided the area neutralised some of the bandits, rescued kidnapped victims and arrested four members of the group including the heavily pregnant wife of the leader who put to bed few days after her arrest.
Sanusi, gave the names of the arrested kidnappers as Yahaya Abdullahi, Muhammed Yunusa, Hauwa Shafiu and Shamsudeen Mustapha.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects included four motorcycles, 31 pieces of 500mg tramadol tablets, 10 pieces of 50mg tramadol tablets, five phones, one POS machine, cooking utensils, and N320,000 cash.
Parading the suspects before newsmen at the command headquarters in Abuja, FCT commissioner of police Ahmed Sanusi,
said Hauwa Shafiu, wife of the gang leader who was heavily pregnant at the time of her arrest, had continued to supply food and logistics to the gang and their captives.
He said upon her arrest, he ordered that she be taken to the hospital, where she subsequently gave birth.
The commissioner while noting that the baby is sound and safe, said “the mother too is sound, We have provided every medical need while we watch her recuperate as she remains in the police clinic”.
Giving an update of the operations, the commissioner said “As a follow-up to that operation, upon further engagements, we stormed a suspected bandit and kidnapper’s hideout within the same area and arrested some suspects. One of the suspects, Shafiu, operates as a logistics supplier and cook for the criminal gang and their hostages.
He said “She was heavily pregnant at the time of her arrest, even though her pregnancy did not deter her from continuously committing this heinous crime,”.
The commissioner said “The group had infiltrated and integrated into a local community just about one kilometre away from the FCT itself, enabling them to gather intelligence and coordinate repeated attacks on targeted persons and locations,”.
The commissioner further stated that said the N320,000, cash recovered from the suspect was part of the proceeds from a recent kidnapping ransom.
He said “According to the confession of one of the suspects, the N320,000 was his share from a N7 million ransom paid to the kidnappers,”.
He also disclosed that a suspect confessed to having dispatched a motorcycle to help two fleeing bandits escape during the June 11 operation — confirming that two persons who evaded arrest that day had been assisted from within the network.
The commissioner said that Mustapha was an active drug supplier to the bandit network.
Sanusi, who reiterated the commitment of the police to flush out bandits and other criminals from the FCT, said that the command was prepared for direct confrontation with the criminals. He also declared several bandits wanted whose photographs he said had been obtained, saying
“As they are looking for us, we are equally looking for them,”
