Police parade kidnappers of rescued American citizen

The Nigeria Police Force has arrested two members of a transnational kidnap syndicate involved in the kidnap of an American citizen, Philip Walton.

Walton, who was abducted October 28 at his farm in Masalata village, Republic of Niger, was rescued by the US military forces a few days after.

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Parading the suspects at Force headquarters, on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, explained that Aliyu Abdullahi ‘m’ 21yrs a.k.a Mallam and Aliyu Umaru ‘m’ 23yrs a.k.a Kwatte Kusu, both from Sokoto State, were arrested on November 25.

According to him, the two suspects – members of a 15-man kidnap gang of Nigerian/Nigerien extraction, led by Barte Dan Alhaji and Dan Buda – were arrested following a special intelligence-led operation aimed at arresting the criminal gang, disrupting and halting other criminal activities by them.

The police spokesman said investigation by the Intelligence Response team revealed that the gang was plotting other abductions to avenge the death of their cohorts – four Nigeriens and two Nigerians who died during the rescue operation.

He said: “The force is collaborating with its Nigerien counterparts in the investigations to apprehend other members of the transnational syndicate currently at large.”