The Nigeria Police Force has arrested eight suspects over the kidnap and murder of 93-year-old Mr Defwan Dariye, father of a former Governor of Plateau, Mr Joshua Dariye.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, who made this known during a media briefing in Abuja, said the nonagenarian was kidnapped by the suspects and held incommunicado for eight days in a very unhygienic condition.
He said a ransom of N10 million was paid to the kidnappers after a prolonged negotiation and rather than free the old man, the kidnappers killed him.
Mba said the incident which happened in June 2020, and after recovering the victim’s body, detectives from the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and other police detectives uncovered the culprits.
“The police were able to make progress that led to the arrest of the eight key suspects that played major roles in the kidnap and murder of the ex-governor’s father, in the last 30 days.
“All the suspects, except very few of them, were from the same village in Bokkos Local Government Area with the murdered victim.
“This, perhaps, explains why they took the very wicked and costly decision of murdering the old man,” he said.
He said the crime was initiated by the eldest suspect, who identified the victim, recruited men that executed the operations and handled the distribution of the ransom.
Mba said three suspects were also arrested on August 28, 2021, in a border community between Nasarawa and Taraba after months of intensive monitoring.
He said the suspects were arrested over unlawful procurement, distribution and selling of weapons to end-users who were largely criminals, kidnappers, bandits, terrorists and armed robbers.
He added that the suspects were arrested after operatives of the IRT mounted a sting operation that was intelligence-driven and clinically executed.
Mba said a total of 26 AK47 magazines, one AK49 riffle and its magazines, as well as 14 live ammunition for AK47 rifle, were recovered from the suspects.
He said the suspects would be charged to court when investigation is concluded.
