The Police on Tuesday said they have arrested a suspect for allegedly luring and handing over his cousin to a criminal gang for kidnap.

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), Mr Frank Mba, disclosed this during a media briefing in Abuja.

He said the suspect lured and handed over his cousin to the kidnappers because of his unwillingness to pay back the loan he got from the cousin.

According to him, the cousin has been a pillar of support to the suspect and had given him a soft loan to purchase four tricycles for his personal use.

He said the suspect was expected to pay back the loan over time.

“At a point, the suspect, clearly not ready to pay back the loan, lured his cousin out of Zaria in pretext that he was going to collect money from somewhere.

“In the process, the suspect handed over his cousin to a gang of kidnappers in Galadiwa forest in Kaduna State.

“After handing her over to the kidnappers, the suspect instructed the gang to make as much money as they can from her and ensure that they kill her.

“But the cousin had a divine visitation that helped her to escape from the kidnappers’ den the first night of her kidnap,” he said.

Mba said the suspect was among the 48 suspects arrested by the police over various criminal offences.

He said the 48 suspects were persons who had been empirically linked to offences of homicide, kidnapping, armed robbery, unlawful possession of firearms, car theft and other criminal offences.

Mba said 24 assorted weapons consisting of one GPMG, three AK47 riffles, nine AK49 riffles, 495 AK47 live ammunition and 10 laptops were recovered from the suspects. (NAN)