– IGP assures sustained efforts at improving public safety in all Nigerian communities
Working with the Taraba State Police Command, the Nigeria Police Intelligence Response Team has arrested eleven (11) notorious kidnapping suspects in Taraba State for their complicity and various criminal roles in the recent trend of kidnapping incidents in Taraba State, including the kidnapping of a serving Nigeria Customs Service personnel, the kidnapping of a relative of the Emir of Jalingo, and the killing of a Police Sergeant in Jalin. During operations on several suspect hideouts across the state, the police team also discovered seven AK47 rifles, two (2) Beretta pistols, one hundred and twenty-one (121) rounds of live ammunition of various calibres, four (4) magazines, illicit substances, and other incriminating things.
The suspects were apprehended after the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, psc(+), NPM, fdc, dispatched operatives from the Intelligence Response Team to Taraba State to assist the Taraba State Police Command in quickly containing the disturbing trend of kidnapping, armed robbery, and other violent crimes in the state.
The suspects, Luka Adam, Shuaibu Nuhu, Moses Amos, Peters Mashi, Ahmadu Mallam, Adamu Mohammed, Dahiru Mallam Dalha, Gambo Isah, Sanusi Ahmadu, Mallam Mohammed Mauludu, Ibrahim Idi, all indigenes of Taraba State, were arrested by the Police team from their various criminal hideouts.
The suspects, who have also been on the Taraba Police Command’s wanted list, are members of a notorious kidnap syndicate and have been linked to a recent upsurge in kidnapping incidents in the state, including deliberate and calculated attacks on security personnel, according to police investigations. Investigations further revealed how two (2) of the suspects, Gambo Isah and Sanusi Ahmadu, planned the assassination of a Police Sergeant and injured a Police Inspector with gunshot wounds in a recent operation to avoid arrest after abducting some victims in Jalingo.
Investigations also revealed that the suspects’ method of operation entails following people to their homes – business owners, government officials, motorists inexpensive and exotic cars, and so on – and then planning and executing their kidnapping. Before their release, they also collect large sums of money as ransom from families and friends of their victims.
Various criminal hideouts where kidnap victims are normally kept were also identified and raided by the police throughout their investigations. All of the kidnap victims held captive at the various hideouts were carefully and successfully freed unharmed and reunited with their families, while a cache of firearms and other incriminating artefacts were seized from the hideouts. Meanwhile, investigators are stepping up their efforts to apprehend other individuals who are still on the loose.
While commending the people of Taraba State for their cooperation, particularly in giving important information that helped the police apprehend the perpetrators quickly, the IGP emphasized that the police will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure the Taraba people’s collective safety. The IGP expressed his condolences to the family of Sergeant Ogidi Habu, and promised that the Force will continue to work to improve public safety in all Nigerian communities.
All the suspects will be charged to court on completion of investigations.
