Bauchi State Police Command has arrested a 20-year-old suspected kidnapper, Abubakar Isah, and recovered the sum of N8.4 million cash from him.
Bauchi Kidnapper Arrested
The state Commissioner of Police, Umar Sanda, who disclosed this on Tuesday while parading Isah, said the suspect was arrested for criminal conspiracy, armed robbery, kidnapping, illegal possession of prohibited firearms and ammunition.
Sanda listed items recovered from the suspect to include N8,466,000 cash, one sub-machine gun (SMG) rifle with 92 live ammunition, one empty magazine, 7.62mm caliber of live ammunition, eight mobile phones, one MP3 player, one Honda motorcycle and one cutlass.
While answering questions from journalists, the suspect insisted that he is innocent of the crimes though he agreed that all the exhibits were found in his possession at the point of arrest.
Isah said he is a cattle rearer and was contracted by one Ibrahim who is now at large to go to another village to rear some cattle for him for a period of time after which he will be paid the agreed sum.
“On the day I was arrested, I was on the back seat of the motorcycle which was driven by my boss going to the village where I will tend the cattle for him, he did not tell me the name of the village, he only asked me to go with him,” he said.
“He gave me a bag to hold while he drove the motorcycle. When we got to the bank of a river where we were to board a canoe to cross to the other side, we just saw Policemen with guns pointed at us. My boss jumped off the motorcycle and ran away. I was then arrested and brought here,”
Probed further, he insisted that he was innocent and he did not know what was contained in the bag until it was opened at the Police Command headquarters.
“I only held the bag without knowing its contents, that is the reason I am here,” the suspect added.
The Police Commissioner said that all efforts to get him to talk so that his boss and others can be traced and arrested proved abortive as the telephone number he gave has since been switched off.
The CP said from the look of things, the suspect belongs to a gang of kidnappers because there is no way someone of his age will have such an amount of money and the sophisticated weapons found with him.
“Nobody has come out to identify him since he was arrested and all that is left for the Police to do is to arraign him before the court with the exhibits, it is left for the court to decide,” the CP said,
Sanda added that the police remain committed to ensuring a safe and secured environment for the people of Bauchi.
KanyiDaily had also reported how a man, Shirhabil Abubakar was arraigned before a Bauchi court for allegedly defrauding 20 serving policemen to the sum of N4.08 million.