The Police in Abuja yesterday paraded 31 suspects arrested by the IGP Special Tactical Squad, STS, for crimes ranging from kidnapping, armed robbery, culpable homicide, rape, to unlawful possession of arms and ammunition, with two of those paraded being members of the gang that abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School and Greenfield University in Kaduna.
The duo said during the period the victims of Bethel Baptist School and Greenfield Varsity attacks were in their custody, they took some of the female students to a different location, raped and shot them after ransom had been paid by their families.
Recall that 140 students of Bethel Baptist High School, located at Kujama, along the Kaduna-Kachia highway were kidnapped in July 2021, while 16 Students of Greenfield University, located along the Kaduna–Abuja highway, some few kilometres to the Olam feed factory about 30km from Kaduna town, were also kidnapped in May 2021.
Speaking during a parade of the suspects by the Force Public Relations Officer, supported by the Commander of STS, DCP Kolo Yusuf, Aminu Lawal, who is 2nd in command to bandit leader, Yellow Ashana, and Murtala who partook in the student’s kidnap, said they killed five of the Greenfield University Students after raping them in the bush.
Aminu, who said he hailed from Kaduna State, said they and other members of Yellow Ashana’s gang had been responsible for many of the kidnappings along the Abuja-Kaduna highway, noting that Yellow converted him from being an Okada rider to kidnapping because it was more lucrative.
“During the Greenfield kidnapping, we from Yellow gang worked with other kidnappers from other camps. It was a joint operation. While they were in our custody and ransom was delayed, We took the students to a different location and after raping the girls among them, shot them to death,” he said.
Another gang of kidnappers and robbers terrorizing the FCT, which had carried out kidnappings along Abuja-Kaduna, Kaduna and Niger highway were also paraded.
The six-man gang, including Salisu Abdullahi, Salisu Muhammed and Yusuf Usman, said they had been operating as a team for more than three years.
One of their leaders, Salisu Abdullahi, said the gang had six AK 47 rifles, adding that he was arrested while tryingvto purchase 150 live ammunition and 10 pieces of military camouflage for one of their operations.
Salisu said they sometimes got information about their victims from their Hausa security guards, even as he stated that their hideout was in Kasala area of Kubwa.
Force PRO, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, said members of the gang were nabbed after kidnapping a victim, from whom they demanded N30 million ransom.
He said it was in the process of collecting the ramsom that operatives of the Special Tactical Squad arrested them.
Meanwhile, a Police source told Vanguard that many of the kidnappers/bandits who killed several of their victims after collecting ransom, were arrested several times in the past, taken to court for prosecution and sent to jail.
“But as you are seeing, these bandits and self-confessed kidnappers always find their way back into the society. Ours is to arrest the culprits, take them to court for prosecution, which we are doing,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, yesterday at Force headquarters, received from the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi, keys of 34 new hilux vehicles purchased by the Police Trust Fund, as part of operational support for the Nigeria Police Force.
While expressing gratitude to the federal government for the equipment, IGP Alkali said: “This year alone, we have achieved much in terms of getting the tools to work, scientific aids. We have also improved on our welfare needs and ensured infrastructure upgrade in all police formations.
“You recall we recently took delivery of about 200 operationl vehicles and other assets. NSITC recently donated 16 operational vehicles which have boosted our deployments along the Abuja -Kaduna highway to tackle security challenges.”
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