Police arrest 2 for kidnapping in Niger

Police in Niger State have arrested 22-year-old Usman Sabiu and 18-year-old Nafiu Umar in Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State for allegedly kidnapping and killing a 13-year-old identified as Yasir Salisu.

 Parading the suspect yesterday at the police headquarters in Minna, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Wasiu Abiodun, said the deceased was killed by his abductors as a cover-up after identifying them to be his neighbours.

• Katsina holds thanksgiving day, prays for peace, security
• COVID-19 vaccination key to protecting yourself, others

 He said the deceased was reported missing on July 29.

 “During a rigorous and painstaking interrogation, Usman Sabiu confessed to having conspired with Nafiu Umar and abducted the missing person to the resident of Nafiu with the intention of collecting N100,000 from the victim’s father.”

 Abiodun said the suspects claimed that the victim could not produce his father’s contact number to demand ransom and he identified them; hence, the victim was strangled to death.

 “In the course of the investigation, the suspects led police operatives to a river bank in Hayin-Nasarawa where the deceased was buried in a shallow grave; however, the corpse was exhumed and deposited at Umar Yar’adua Hospital morgue for autopsy.”

 The PPRO advised parents and guardians to monitor their ward’s movement within the community for safety.

 Similarly, Abiodun said one of the escapees during the Kuje Prison break, John Ijamu, had been recaptured on Sunday in Minna.

 He said the inmate was arrested in his residence in Minna and during interrogation; he confessed that he escaped from the custodial facility during the attack along with other inmates while he escaped further to the Lapai area where he stayed in a mosque for about two weeks before he arrived Minna on 28/07/2022.

 “He claimed that he was arrested in Abuja in 2020 for the offence of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and receiving stolen property and he was remanded in the facility for the above mentioned offence he committed,” Abiodun added.