- Safiu Kehinde
Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force attached ro the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), have arrested a mother and two others over alleged staged kidnapping of a two-year-old child.
Following intelligence reports, the police initially arrested a 34-year-old man, Nansik Sule, who was linked to the kidnap of the two-year-old boy identified as Rito Jesses Davou.
This was made known in a statement issued on Friday by the Force Public Relations Officer, Ani Iniedu.
According to the statement, Sule’s arrest led to the subsequent arrest of the mother of the child, Catherine who was alleged to have conspired with Sule to abduct her son with a demand of N15 million ransom from his grabdmother.
“Investigation revealed that Sule allegedly conspired with the child’s biological mother, Catherine Davou, to stage the kidnapping and create the impression that the child had been abducted, with an initial ransom demand of N7 million.
“Further investigation revealed that the child was kept at Sule’s residence, where a subsequent ransom demand of N15 million was made.” The statement partly read.
Another suspect, Luka Emmanuel Butdam, was also arrested for allegedly making calls to the child’s grandmother in connection with the ransom demand.
The child was subsequently located and safely rescued and, after receiving medical attention, handed over to his biological father.
In a separate development, police operatives arrested one Idris Mohammed, a.k.a. Yellow, and Mohammed Bello Adams over their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a commercial driver, Idris Zakari Baba, and other related criminal activities.
Investigation revealed that the victim was allegedly lured under the pretext of conveying Mohammed from Abuja to Zaria before being intercepted by armed men, taken into the bush and held until a ransom of N3 million was paid.
The victim’s vehicle, a 2012 Toyota Corolla, was subsequently traced to Bauchi State and recovered while Mohammed was attempting to sell it.
Further investigation also linked the suspects to the reported kidnapping of Pastor David Dahni and his driver, Abdullahi Abubakar, for which a ransom of N10.5 million was reportedly paid.
The force said it will continue to investigate the cases to identify other persons connected to the criminal activities and establish the full extent of the suspects’ involvement.
