It was the end of the road for two notorious kidnap kingpins after operatives of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command, working with their Nasarawa State counterparts, stormed their hideout and arrested them with millions of naira in ransom cash and a stockpile of assault rifles.
The arrested suspects have been identified as Masud Abdullahi, the alleged gang leader from Karu, Nasarawa State, and his associate, Muhammad Tahir, from Jos, Plateau State.
Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh, who confirmed the breakthrough in Abuja on Friday, said the gang had abducted a resident, Henry Chichi, from an estate in Karu on August 16. Acting swiftly, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit mounted pressure on the syndicate, forcing them to release the victim unharmed the following day.
Determined to end the gang’s reign of terror, the police launched a manhunt which climaxed along the Guraku axis of the Nasarawa–FCT Highway, where the kidnappers’ getaway vehicle, a red Opel Vectra, lost control. Abdullahi and Tahir were arrested on the spot, while other gang members fled.
A follow-up raid on their Karshi Forest hideout led to the arrest of a third suspect, 22-year-old Kabiru Jibril, and the recovery of a shocking cache of weapons and cash: N7.4 million, three AK-47 rifles with magazines, a G3 rifle, 16 live rounds of 7.62mm ammunition, and a mobile phone.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ajao Adewale, hailed the professionalism of the operatives and assured residents that the manhunt for fleeing members of the gang was ongoing.
“This operation is proof that kidnappers have no safe haven in the FCT,” he declared.