Police arrest suspect in Nabeeha kidnapping and murder in Abuja

Police have announced the arrest of a suspect in the January 2 kidnappings in Abuja, which involved the murder of some of the victims by the kidnappers over delay in payment of ransom.

The arrest was revealed on Sunday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Muyuwa Adejobi, through a statement in Abuja.

According to Adejobi, a police raid last Sunday at a hotel in Kaduna led to the capture of the 28-year-old suspect, Bello Mohammed.

He said Mohammed admitted to being a member of the group that carried out the kidnappings, during which a police officer was killed on January 2.

Cash amounting to N2.25 million was found in the possession of the suspect, the statement said.

“Officers of the Nigerian Police arrested Bello Mohammed, 28, from Zamfara State, Kaduna on January 20, 2024.

“The Tafa Divisional Police Officer, acting on intelligence information, raided a hotel in Tafa area, Kaduna, where he arrested Bello, with the sum of 2.25 million dollars (two million two hundred and fifty million of naira) only, suspected to be proceeds of ransoms collected from kidnapped victims within the area,” Adejobi said.

He said the suspect confessed that on January 13, the gang murdered some of their kidnapped captives, including Nabeeha, at their camp in Kaduna State.

“The suspect, during interrogation, confessed to being part of the gang that kidnapped the relatives of one Barrister Ariyo in Bwari, FCT, on January 2, 2024, and killed some kidnapped victims, including Nabeeha, f, daughter of the lawyer. on January 13, 2024, in a kidnapper camp, Kaduna State.

“The suspect, in a dramatic situation, offered $1,000,000 (only one million naira) to induce the DPO, who rejected the offer and performed his duty diligently.”

Mohammed further admitted to being involved with five bandits whom the Kaduna police had already neutralized. And his lethal field was eliminated.

“The Inspector General of Police, IGP Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, PhD, NPM, has ordered that the suspect, who also confessed to the involvement of the five (5) bandits already neutralized in Kaduna by the IRT, led by one Mai Gemu ( alias Godara), whose deadly field has also been destroyed, be handed over to the DFI-IRT in Abuja to conduct discreet investigations into the matter and arrest all others guilty of the dastardly act. The suspect is currently assisting police in their investigations,” the statement noted.

Abuja under siege

PREMIUM TIMES reported how gunmen dressed in military uniform invaded Sagwari Layout Estate in Dutse, also in Bwari Area Council, around 7.30pm on January 7 and kidnapped nine people, including a mother and her four children. .

The kidnappers subsequently went to a nearby hotel and kidnapped a receptionist and a bartender.

READ ALSO: Police arrest Abuja kidnapper in Kaduna – Official

They later killed Folorunsho Ariyo and Nabeeha Al-Kadriyah and dumped their bodies and two others near an old military checkpoint behind Idah Junction on Bwari-Jere SCC road in Kagarko Local Government Area, Kaduna State.

At least 85 people have been reported kidnapped over three days in Abuja between January 4 and 7.

In Kawu, a village in the Bwari Regional Council of the FCT, 22 people were reported to have been kidnapped in a single day.

Last week, gunmen shot a man in his home at the Nigerian Army Retirement Estate in Kurudu, Abuja, and kidnapped his wife and housekeeper.

Political and security authorities are under pressure to stop kidnappings, which have been frequent for some years, especially in the northwest and north-central regions of the country.