Fourteen members of a large criminal group of different units, who were responsible for some of the criminal activities including killings, kidnappings, armed robbery, rape and terrorism along Abuja- Kaduna expressway and Plateau, Bauchi, Taraba, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Niger and Gombe States.

The suspects were arrested by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police, Intelligence Response Team (IRT) led by Olatunji Disu, Deputy Commissioner of Police in different string operations in the different states.

It was gathered that the gang members abducted three female students of the Plateau State University, raped two of them and killed the third one for refusing to allow them to sleep with her.

Recovered from the gang members are: one Indian-made AK-47 rifle with 23 rounds of live ammunition, two locally-made AK-47 rifles with ten 10 rounds of live ammunition, one locally-made SMG Gun together with 33 rounds of 9mm live ammunition, two locally-made G3 gun and two locally-made Barreta pistols.

The leader of the gang, Iliyasu Saidu (a.k.a. Yellow) said, “I am a secondary school dropout. I stopped going to school because there was no one to pay my school fees. I have been arrested by police before for criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, cattle rustling and kidnapping. The case was charged to court, and I was in the prison yard for three weeks.

“My parents and one lawyer came to the prison yard and secured my release that time. I continued doing criminal activities with my gang members when I came out of prison. My gang members are: Ahmadu Kurma, Abdullahi Abubakar a.k.a. Abdul Lawyer, Badamosi Ardo Yakubu, Abubakar Mohammed a.k.a. Buba, Sky, Zaki, Douglas, Isah Umar and Sabi Audi,” he said.

The suspect also continued “I have also facilitated the release of Buba before as a surety at Bokkos Police Station. On the 10th of June 2021, operatives of the IRT in Kateri Annex came to Bokkos LGA to arrest me in connection with one case of criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and kidnapping of three female students of Plateau State University, Bokkos.”

Yellow admitted, “I am a notorious gang leader of kidnappers in our community and I have participated in several armed robberies, cattle rustling and kidnappings. The first criminal operation I did was kidnapping. We kidnapped one woman at Mangar village. We took her to Bodel Forest, and the victim spent three days in captivity. We collected a ransom of N800, 000 before releasing her.

“The person that gave us the work is one Blessing Simon of Bokkos. I got N100,000 as my own share, while we gave the person who masterminded the kidnap N200,000. The people who participated in this operation were Badamosi, Ahmadu, Buba, Sabi, Mubarak Hassani and me. In the second operation, we kidnapped one woman at Tadai village in Manguna District of Bokkos LGA. We took her to Tadai Forest, and she spent two days and collected a ransom of N300, 000 before releasing her. I got a share of N70, 000,” he said.

He also confessed, “In the third operation, we kidnapped one man at Bokkos and took him to Bodel Forest. He spent 3 days before we got a ransom of N350,000 and released her. I got an N70,000 share. Those who participated in this operation were: Abdullahi Abubakar a.k.a. Abdul Lawyer, Sky, Zaki, Douglas a.k.a. Doggy Bokkos, Badamosi and me.”

He further revealed that, “In the fourth operation, we stormed the Plateau State University, Bokkos, together with Ahmadu, Buba, Badamosi, Abdulahi, Abdul Lawyer, Sabi and Mubarak. We abducted three female students.”

The suspect also added that “We wanted to sleep with them. Two of them agreed and the third one did not. We killed the third one. Before we released the other two, we threatened them that we would come back and kill them if they reveal what happened to anyone.”

Another member of the gang, 23-year-old Abdullai Abubakar aka Lawyer also confessed to having participated in various criminal operations in different states in the northern parts of Nigeria, especially in Plateau.

Abdul ‘Lawyer’ said “I bought one AK-47 rifle from Ali Ibrahim (a.k.a. Ali Kiris) for N370,000, and 30 rounds of ammunition from Yakubu Joshua for N30,000. Sani, one of our gang members bought one AK47 rifle and ammunition from the same Yakubu at the cost of N400, 000. Ali Ibrahim also sold another AK-47 rifle and ammunition to Ahmadu Kurma at the cost of N500,000. Ali Ibrahim also sold one AK-47 rifle and 30 rounds of live ammunition to Saidu Hashimi for N300, 000.”

He revealed that “There is one Igbo man, Ik in Daffo village, Bokkos. He sold two AK47 riffles and 60 rounds of live ammunition to Badamosi Ardo Yakubu and Yakubu Saidu’s elder brother, Iluiya Saidu (a.k.a. Yellow).”

The suspect confessed that “We kidnapped one Challa in Bokkos. This work was given to us by Yakubu Joshua. We took the victim to Mangar Forest where he spent one day and a ransom of N700, 000 was collected before he was released. I got N75, 000 as my own share.”

“The second operation, we stormed the State University Bokkos. We kidnapped three female students and took them to Mangar Forest. We demanded N300, 000 ransom, in which I got N50,000 as my own share. The victims spent one day with us. Those who participated in the kidnapping are Abdullahi Abubakar (a.k.a. Abdul-Lawyer), Annas Ilya, Iliyasu Saidu (a.k.a. Yellow), Badamasi Ardo Yakubu, Sky Bokkos and Zaki Bokko,” he added.

Other arrested members of the gang are Annas Iliya, Isah Umar, Hassan Shaibu, Alli Ibrahim, Ishaya Dawoud, and Ugwujoke Ikechukwu.

Force Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, while reacting to the arrest of the suspects and the recovery of the arms and ammunition, commended the operatives of the IRT for working in consonance with the vision and plan of the IGP, Usman Baba Alkali to make all parts of Nigeria safe for all citizens. (Courtesy, excluding headline, Nigerian Tribune)

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