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From Molly Kilete and Damilola Adeoye, Abuja
The police force headquarters in Abuja, Wednesday paraded 21, suspects for armed robbery, criminal conspiracy kidnapping, cultism, culpable homicide, unlawful possession of prohibited firearms among other crimes.
The suspects were said to have been arrested in Adamawa, Bauchi, Niger, Edo and Kaduna states respectively. They were found to be in possession of ten AK-47 riffles, one G-3 riffle, eight pump action guns, three locally made pistols, one locally made revolver, three English double barrel guns, one single barrel gun, four cutlasses and 48 AK-47 ammunitions at the tile of their arrest.
Others are one hundred 9mm pistol ammunition , 471 K2 live ammunition, 633 rounds of live ammunition of different calibres 9mm ammunition, 14, live cartridges and eight expended cartridges.
Parading the suspects before newsmen at the Inteligence Response Team(IRT), office in Abuja, force public relations officer Olumiyiwa Adejobi, said among the suspects paraded was a notorious bandits and kidnapping group and the killers of a member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, who also abducted two of his wives and one year old child, sometime in August, 2022.
The suspects were arrested by Operatives of the Force Intelligence Bureau Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT).
The suspects, Hashimu Galadima (aka Kan-Wuka) aged 48, Abdulwahab Alhassan (aka Emeka) aged 31, Abdulwahab Ahmed (aka Dan-Mama) aged 35, and Alh. Modu Saleh, all of Dass Local Government Area of Bauchi State, were arrested following credible intelligence. The suspects, according to investigations, are members of a syndicate actively involved in kidnapping and robbery operations within Bauchi state and its environs. They confessed to the murder of one Hon. Musa Mante, a then serving member of the Bauchi State House of Assembly from Dass LGA in August 2020, and the kidnap of his two wives and 1-year old daughter. They similarly confessed to the murder of one Mallam Dahiru Suleiman, and a retired Chief Superintendent of Police, CSP Garkuwa, who they claimed was a bane to their free operation in the area.
Also paraded were 11 suspects who confessed to being members of a secret society, the Black Axe Confraternity (aka Aiye) arrested in Ekpoma, Edo State, following reports on their nefarious activities within the area. The suspects – 22 years Okosun Pascal, 24 years Michael Ehineboh, 22 years Aneto Israel, 23 years Destiny Uhomogiwan, 20 years Bello Sunday, 27 years Eramoh Akhere, 22 years Osagie Adamson, 24 years Okoruwa Christian, Edoghogho Wellington (all 9 from Esan LGA of Edo State), 20 years old Momoh Kingsley from Estako West LGA of Edo State, and 24 years old Chukwu Chukwuemeka from Nkanu West LGA of Enugu State, are all university undergraduates. Exhibits recovered from the suspects are 2 AK 47 Rifles, 3 pump action guns, 1 locally made pistol, 2 AK47 Magazines, 22 live rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, 17 rounds of 5.56mm K2 Ammunition, and 3 live cartridges.
Operatives of the FIB-IRT equally apprehended the trio of Murtala Ibrahim aged 37, Suleiman Rabiu aged 28, and Surajo Sani (aka Mandula) aged 39, for kidnapping and providing information to other notorious kidnap gangs on likely victims of their crime. The suspects who operate within Yankwani and Kurami Towns in Bakori LGA of Katsina State carried out the kidnap of a man, his wife and two children from whom they obtained a ransom of 30 million Naira.
An escapee from the Kuje Correctional Centre in June 2022, one Abdulrazak Isah, aged 27, from Ondo State, who was convicted to life imprisonment for the murder in 2013 and had spent 10 years prior to his escape from the detention facility, was arrested at Tafa LGA of Kaduna State for stealing an iPad and a computer monitor from a hotel in Sabon Wuse, Niger State. The suspect thereafter sold the monitor for the sum of N5,000 and the iPad for the sum of N10,000, before his arrest.
He said the suspects would be arraigned in court as soon as investigation is completed.
