The Nigeria Police Force has announced the arrest of a suspected kidnapper, Bello Mohammed, 28, believed to have been involved in the abduction and murder of Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar.
The deceased, alongside her sisters and father Mansoor Al-Kadriyar, was abducted from their home at Zuma 1, Bwari on the outskirts of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja on January 2, 2024.
Force spokesman, Mr Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said in a statement that Mohammed who hails from Zamfara State, was arrested in Kaduna, where he allegedly offered N1 million to the divisional police officer of Tafa Division, Kaduna to be let off the hook.
Adejobi said the DPO who acted on intelligence report, led his operatives to a hotel in Tafa area, Kaduna, where the suspect was apprehended with the sum of N2.25 million believed to have been the proceeds of ransoms collected from kidnapped victims within the area.
Adejobi said the suspect, during interrogation, confessed to have been part of the gang that kidnapped the family members of one Barrister Ariyo in Bwari, FCT, on January 2, 2024 and killed some kidnapped victims, including Nabeeha, on 13th January, 2024, in a kidnappers’ camp, in Kaduna State.
The police said Mohammed further confessed to have been part of the gang that kidnapped family members in Bwari on January 2.
“The operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, on January 20, 2024, arrested one Bello Mohammed, 28, of Zamfara State, in Kaduna.
“The divisional police officer, Tafa Division, acting on intelligence, raided one hotel in Tafa Area, Kaduna, where he arrested Bello, with the sum of N2.25 million, suspected to be proceeds of ransoms collected from kidnapped victims within the area,” the statement noted.
“The suspect, during interrogation, confessed to being part of the gang that kidnapped the family members of one Barrister Ariyo in Bwari, FCT, on January 2, 2024, and killed some kidnapped victims, including Nabeeha, f, daughter of the legal practitioner, on January 13, 2024, in a kidnappers’ camp in Kaduna State.
“The suspect, in a dramatic situation, offered N1, 000,000to induce the DPO, who rejected the offer and carried out his duty diligently,” Adejobi said.
It would be recalled that about 19 abductees were taken away by bandits from the Sagwari Estate Layout in the Dutsen-Alhaji area in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT.
The kidnappers demanded N700 million ransom for nine of their victims.
They killed four of the hostages, including Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, a 400-level student of Biological Science at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and 13-year-old Folashade Ariyo.
