The police on Monday announced the arrest of arrested 32 persons suspected to be involved in kidnapping and armed robbery on Abuja-Kaduna expressway.
The spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force, Jimoh Moshood, said at a press conference on Monday in Katari that the suspects belonged to different criminal gangs.
He added that the arrest was sequel to the deployment of additional police teams on the Kaduna-Abuja road to tackle kidnapping and armed robbery cases.
The teams are made up of Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Squad, Anti-Kidnapping Unit, Intelligent Response Team, Special Tactical Squad, Force Intelligence Branch and Police Helicopters.
Mr Moshood, a chief superintendent of police, said the teams had made significant achievement since it came on board.
“The Inspector General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris NPM, mni concerned with the occurrence of cases of Kidnappings in the recent times on Abuja-Kaduna Highway, has deployed a Joint Police Team comprising Special Police Force, Police Mobile Force, Counter Terrorism Squad, Anti-Kidnapping Units, Intelligence Response Team, Special Tactical Squad, the Force Intelligence Branch, the Police Mobile Force with Headquarters at Rijanah, Kaduna State.
“The Joint Police Team is under specific and definite mandate to rout out the kidnap for ransom gangs and armed robbery gangs that have being terrorizing the Abuja-Kaduna Highway in the recent times. The operation is to complement and augment the on-going Joint Police/Military operations on the ground.
“Within the first week of the commencement of the operation Absolute Sanity, the above mentioned suspects were arrested in their hideouts and the exhibits listed above were recovered from them. They have made confessional statements indicating the various criminal roles they played in the commission of the crime. Most of them have been identified by some of their victims. They will soon be charged to court on completion of investigation.
“Meanwhile the Inspector General of Police has commended and appreciated the communities and people in the towns and villages along Abuja-Kaduna highway for their cooperation with the Police personnel deployed for the operation. He however, implored commuters, travelers and other road users to support the Police personnel in the discharge of their responsibilities and in the implementation of other crime prevention and control strategies of the Force.
“The operations will be sustained and is being replicated in all other Highways and major roads across the country,” Mr Moshood added.
Below is the list of the suspects.
MOHAMMED MUSA
MUSA HASSAN
MAMUDA ADO
SHUABU MUSA
SANI ABUBAKA
SHEHU ALH. ADO
ABUBAKAR BELLO
MOHAMMED GARBA
USMAN BELLO
KABIRU AHMADU
USMAN FULANI GAMBO
ABUBAKAR ABDULLAHI
YAHAYA USMAN
SULEIMAN LAWWAN
AWAL MADAKI
YAKUBU MUSA
ALIYU YAHAYA
AMINU SHUAIBU
ALHAJI UMARU MOHAMMED
SANI FULANI (AKA JANARA)
AHMADU RUFAI
SHUAIBU MUSA
IBRAHIM ILLO
UMARU AUTA
BELLO TUKUR
MOHAMMED GAMBO
MOHAMADU ADAMU SIKIRU
MOHAMMED TUKUR IBRAHIM
SAIDU MOHAMMED
ABUBAKAR ABDULLAI
DAN- ABSABE ISAH
AUWALU ABDULLAHI