By; AMOS TAUNA, Kaduna
A suspected kidnapper believed to be involved in the abduction and murder of Nabeeha, daughter of a Bwari lawyer, has been arrested by the operatives of the Nigerian Police Force.
Recall that about 19 abductees were taken away by bandits from The Sagwari Estate Layout in the Dutsen-Alhaji area in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory was attacked by bandits and about 19 abductees were taken away where the kidnappers demanded N700m ransom for nine of their victims.
Four of the hostages were killed by the kidnappers including Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, a 400-level student of Biological Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and 13-year-old Folashade Ariyo. Nabeeha was abducted alongside six other siblings.
On January 2, on the outskirts of Bwari town in Abuja, the siblings were kidnapped with their father, Alhaji Mansoor Al-Kadriyar, from their home at Zuma 1.
In a statement on Sunday, the police said that 28-year-old Bello Mohammed was apprehended in a Kaduna hotel raid on January 20th with N2.25 million in suspected ransom money, saying that under questioning, Mohammed confessed to being part of the gang that kidnapped Barrister Ariyo’s family members in Bwari on January 2.
The operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, according to the statement, explained that on January 20, 2024, arrested one Bello Mohammed, 28, of Zamfara State, in Kaduna.
According to the statement, “The Divisional Police Officer, Tafa Division, acting on intelligence, raided one hotel in Tafa Area, Kaduna, where he arrested Bello, with the sum of #2.25m (Two Million, two hundred and fifty million naira) only, suspected to be proceeds of ransoms collected from kidnapped victims within the area.”
He explained that the gang killed some of their kidnapped victims, including Nabeeha, in a camp in Kaduna State on January 13.
The statement explained that Mohammed offered a N1 million bribe to the DPO leading the operation, SP Idris Ibrahim, but Ibrahim rejected the inducement and arrested the suspect.
The suspect, the statement said that during interrogation, confessed to being part of the gang that kidnapped the family members of one Barrister Ariyo in Bwari, FCT, on 2nd January 2024, and killed some kidnapped victims, including Nabeeha, daughter of the legal practitioner, on January 13, 2024, in a kidnappers camp, in Kaduna State.
The statement added that Mohammed also confessed to the involvement of five bandits already neutralised by police in Kaduna. Their deadly camp was also destroyed.
The suspect is being transferred to the IRT in Abuja for further investigations and to apprehend other accomplices, while Mohammed is currently assisting the police in their inquiries.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, has ordered that the suspect, who also confessed to the involvement of the already five (5) neutralised bandits in Kaduna by the IRT, headed by one Mai Gemu (aka Godara), whose deadly camp has also been destroyed, be handed over to the DFI-IRT in Abuja for discreet investigations into the matter and arrest of all other culprits responsible for the dastardly act as the suspect is currently helping the police in their investigations.
IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun commended the DPO’s commitment and professionalism. He assured that the police would leave no stone unturned in decimating criminally minded individuals and bequeathing to Nigerians a more secure society.
