The police on Monday paraded 13 suspects who were directly linked to the kidnap of the district head of Daura in Katsina State.
Also paraded were 27 others for their alleged involvement in murder, cattle rustling, armed robbery, attempted murder, kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.
The district head, Magajin Garin Daura, Alhaji Musa Umar Daura, was kidnapped at his home in Daura on May 1.
He was rescued on July 2 by operatives from IGP Intelligence Response Team led by DCP Abba Kyari.
Of the 13 of the suspects paraded, four are from Daura, while eight are from states in the North.
One other suspect is from Niger Republic.
Two of the suspects are said to have undergone training in Libya. The suspects said they were trained in Libya in musketry and how to disarm members of the Armed Forces and police plus other terrorism related training.
The suspects are Aminu Saleh, Yusuf Dahiru, Abdullahi Mohammed, Bilal Yusuf, Sarfilu Abdu, Dahiru Musa, Tukur Bukar, Ibrahim Ibrahim, Mohammed Saidu, Abubakar Adamu, Mustapha Zakariyya, Ibrahim Mohammed and Bako Mustapha.
Recovered from them are four Ak47 rifles with serial numbers: NO::24389, NO::60733, NO:: 23197, NO:: 26858, two berretta pistols, five AK47 magazines, 145 live ammunition, four dark eye glasses, masks, documents, phones, three hand grenade of military calibre and one police berretta.
Laptops with video clips of how explosives are made and other manuals of how other dangerous weapons are made are also said to be contained in the system recovered from them.
The suspects demanded $30million ransom from the families of the victim, but they said nothing was paid before he was rescued by police operatives.
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The suspects were also said to be responsible for kidnapping and killing of expatriates who own and work at Mothercat Construction Companies in Kano and Kaduna states.
The Force spokesman, Frank Mba, who spoke during the parade, said: “From our analysis, we discovered that the suspects comprised persons from different states and backgrounds. They are males with the average age of 30. The oldest is 46, while the youngest is 20. The youngest played the key role in the whole operation.
“We discovered that there are external collaborators because one of them is from Niger Republic. The gang is also powered by local criminals and operators because the plan was orchestrated by someone from Katsina State.”
Mba said the successes recorded by the operatives were due to the concept of community policing, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari has directed that the concept be implemented across the country.
He called for stringent legislation to help tackle the menace of kidnapping and cattle rustling.
He said: “We are using this opportunity to call for the strengthening of the legislation as it relates to the crime of kidnapping and cattle rustling.”
Our lawmakers at all levels should review laws bordering on kidnapping.
“They should come up with stronger and stringent laws so that Police and other security agencies will be better empowered because our effort will amount to nothing without uniformed legislation.” Mba said the suspects would be prosecuted in competent courts upon the conclusion of investigation.
Culled from TheNation
