How ‘cleric’ kidnapped 4-year-old cousin, demanded N5m ransom

Jamilu Idris, a 39-year-old “cleric”, has been arrested for kidnapping his 4-year-old cousin, Umar Farouk Kabir.

The suspect, who resides at Sabon-Fegi, Yankara village, Faskari Local Government Area of the state, was paraded by the police.

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According to SP Isah Gambo, Police Public Relations Officer, the suspect was arrested on 25 October 2021.

He said in the course of the investigation, the suspect confessed that on 09 October 2021, at about 2:30pm, he went to the house of his uncle, one Kabir Abdullahi at Funtua, who was not at home and when his son Umar Farouk Kabir came out to see who was asking after his father, he recognised the suspect, who later deceptively gave the little boy a Viju drink and abducted him to Dutsen-Alhaji, Abuja.

Subsequently, the suspect called the boy’s father through his GSM and demanded the payment of N5m ransom but the father offered to pay the suspect the sum of N500,000.

Consequently, the father reported the matter to the police and in the course of the investigation, the suspect was traced and arrested.

In another development, the command arrested a syndicate of armed robbers that scaled through the fence of the house of one Babangida Muhammad at Dan-Tudu Quarters, Jibia Local Government Area, killed his mother, Sa’adatu Muhammad, 70 years, and his daughter, Aishatu Babangida, 15 years.

The hoodlums also injured his little children; Muhammad Babangida, 11; Fatima Babangida, 6; Umar Babangida, 7; and Abubakar Babangida, 4.

In the course of the investigation, the suspects confessed to the commission of the offence.

Similarly, the Command arrested one Jafaru Suleiman, 45, and Mustapha Usman, 30, all of Yargoje village, Kankara Local Government Area of Katsina State, members of a local vigilante group, who turned out to be suspected armed robbers.

The suspects allegedly attacked one Aminu Tukur, 25, of Rijiyar Gamji village, Kankara LGA, who was passing through Yargoje village to attend a naming ceremony with machetes and robbed him of the sum N15,000 and other valuables after inflicting serious injuries on his body.

The suspects abandoned the victim thinking that they have killed him.

In the course of the investigation, the suspects confessed to the commission of the offence, the police spokesman said.

Isah said investigations were ongoing and suspects would be charged to court for prosecution.