Lawal Kwali, who allegedly masterminded the killing of 19 villagers and two policemen in Alawa In Shiroro local government area of Niger state and some members of his gang were yesterday paraded by the Nigeria Police in Minna. Kawali, the alleged leader of gang of bandits terrorising villagers in Shiroro, Munya, Rafin and parts of Zamfara state was arrested along with some of his members by the police last week.
The Force Public Relation Officer, Jimoh Moshood while parading the bandits at the Niger state Police Command said that the 11 bandits were responsible for razing down the Police Station at Alawa and killing two policemen.
He also disclosed that the bandits have confessed to be responsible for the kidnap and killing of 19 people including seven people that were abducted in a mosque in Shiroro local government area.
Moshood said the bandits were arrested by a special Tactical Squad under Operation Absolute Sanity set up by the Inspector General of Police.
The police said the
suspects were once vigilantes, who fled Kaduna state for their involvement in criminal activities into Alawa community in Shiroro local government area of Niger state.
The leader of the gang was said to have been on police wanted list in the two states for various offences.
Kwali , popularly referred to as ‘Mai saje’ by his followers in an interview with journalists said that he was not commissioned to kidnap and kill anybody, adding that ‘I killed them just like that. ‘
Kwali who accepted responsibility for the whole operation, Kwali said, ‘what my boys did, the people they killed were done under my directive. I was not paid or commissioned for their kidnap or killing, I did it and gave the orders out of my own discretion."
One of the suspects, Zakari Mamman recounted:
"I was the one who interviewed the seven people brought from the mosque, after interviewing them, we marked them for death. My master has those who specializes in slaughtering the people, I only supervise the killings. There was a 12 year old child whose father pleaded that he should be spared but we slaughtered the son at the presence of the father before killing the father. "
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