The Abuja-Kaduna Expressway was where the Deputy High Commissioner of Sierra Leone, Major General Alfred Claude-Nelson, Executive Director of Dangote Group Engineer, Mansur Ahmed, chairman of Code of Conduct Bureau and several others were kidnapped.
The road is also where kidnapped victims are usually dumped after family members and friends have paid ransom. This expressway is a major route to different states in Nigeria. Some suspects, who participated in the kidnap of some highly placed persons, including Major General Claude-Nelson, said that the victims were random targets.
According to them, kidnapping people along the route was like a child’s play. They explained that all they needed to do was put on army uniforms, armed with a gun and voila, the victims walk into their traps. Suspects arrested for kidnapping Claude-Nelson are Alhaji Rabiu Yusuf, 30, gang leader, Garba Abubakar, aka 27, second in command, Yusuf Adam, 20, driver of gang, Hussaini Musa 25, Shuaibu Idris, 35, Usman Bello, 20, Muhammadu Abubakar, 30, Sulaiman Abubakar, 25, Musa Iliyasu, 20, Balarabe Mohammedu, 20 and Musa Ali, 45, a security guard at Paki Area Development Council Kano State.
He was the person who harboured the kidnappers inside a government building for two days. The suspects were all arrested by Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), supported by Kaduna Anti-kidnapping Operatives. Three AK47 rifles, serial numbers; LU3855, 406724 and AC03302 were recovered from them. Also recovered were loaded AK47 magazines containing 90 rounds of ammunition and two army camouflage uniforms.
The weapons were recovered from Musa, alleged armourer of the gang. The kidnappers’ waterloo started after they kidnapped and released Claude-Nelson. They collected ransom of N1.5million for his release. A police source said: “The mastermind of the kidnap of Claude-Nelson was arrested by IRT operatives.
The gang is most notorious for kidnapping. It used to terrorise Kaduna State. The mastermind of the kidnaps, Alhaji Rabiu Yusuf, is also the leader of the gang.” The gang members were arrested after the Acting Inspector-General-of Police, (IGP), Mr. Ibrahim Idris, directed IRT operatives to head to Kaduna State, fish out the kidnappers of Claude-Nelson and some top Nigerians.
A source added: “After seven days of none stop investigations, all the kidnappers were arrested. Garba Abubakar is the second in command of the gang. His girlfriend, Fatima Umar, 28, was arrested with the suspects. She’s assisting the police in their investigation. The suspects have confessed to being involved in many kidnappings, including the abduction of Claude-Nelson.”
One of the suspects, Balarabe Mohammedu, said that he was in charge of moving vehicles of kidnapped victims to Niger Republic, where the cars were sold immediately. Mohammed said: “We kidnapped the Sierra Leonean diplomat. I moved his car to Niger Republic, where it was sold immediately.”
Members of the gang, confessed to being involved in cattle rustling before they took to kidnapping. They said that most of their members had been slaughtered by herdsmen. Recollecting how they kidnapped Claude-Nelson, Mohammed said the victim was abducted on June 3. His words: “We struck that night and luckily for us, the man drove into our trap.
The moment his car was snatched, I drove it away. I took it to my ‘crosser,’ Abubakar, living in Kastina State. I allowed him to go alone to Niger Republic with the vehicle. Yes, I got my share of the ransom. I was waiting for Abubakar to bring in the proceeds from the sale of the car when I was arrested.”
Rabiu Yusuf, father of 10 children, said he was a cattle-rustler until many of his members and the receiver of the cows died. He said: “My friends and I have stolen many cows from their owners in the forest. We sold the cows to a man known as Saleh from the Kawo area of Kaduna State. We normally go into the bush at night, where these cows are reared to steal them.
We do this when the herdsmen are sleeping. We move the cows in a vehicle, to Saleh. Saleh had contacts of buyers. In one of our operations, two of my members were caught and killed instantly by herdsmen. Our operational vehicle was set ablaze. We recruited more men. Last year, our receiver, Saleh, died.
There was no one else to receive our stolen cows. I then decided to venture into kidnapping because it was the trending business among herdsmen.” He said that after the death of some of his men, he recruited another set and they formed a kidnapping gang. They bought rifles, 16 live ammunition and army uniforms.
Yusuf said: “We laid siege to the Kaduna- Abuja Expressway. We normally blocked the expressway with a black coloured Mazda Saloon car. We abducted many persons, including Claude-Nelson. We have collected millions of naira as ransom from our victims.
I was arrested a few days after Sallah in Zaria. One of my gang members, arrested by the police, led them to my house.” Garba, who was the first suspect arrested in connection with the gang’s activities, narrated how they planned and executed the kidnapping of Claude-Nelson.
He said: “The sum of N1.5m was paid as ransom before we release Claude-Nelson. Some days before the last Sallah celebration, which was during the end of Ramadan, I and six of my friends decided to stage a kidnap operation on the Abuja- Kaduna Expressway. The idea was to raise money for the Sallah celebration.
We had no particular target in mind. “We blocked the Dutse axis of the expressway. Some of us wore army uniforms. When we blocked Claude-Nelson and his driver around 8pm on that fateful day, they thought we were genuine soldiers. It was when we abducted him that the reality dawned on him.
We didn’t know who he was until his kidnap was announced by the media. We demanded N30m as ransom. He spent four days in our custody. We released him after the sum of N1.5m was paid. It was one Umaru, who collected the ransom. He declared only N1m. I got N200, 000 as my share.
That operation was the third I had done with that gang. I spent my own share of the loot during Sallah. I also invited my girlfriend from Zaria to join me in celebrating the Sallah. We spent part of the money together. In fact, she was with me at Paki Local Government Secretariat in Kaduna State when I was arrested.”
A victim of the gang, Mr. Sule Umar, 55, a staff of Nassarawa State Internal Revenue Service, said he was abducted on his way to Zaria, Kaduna State, on June 15. According to him, a ransom of N500, 000 was paid before he was released. After the arrest of the gang, Umar was at the Kaduna State Police Command, to identify some of the suspects. Umar recounted his experience: “I was traveling to Zaria, from Nassarawa State when I was kidnapped. On approaching Gidwa Takwas, a village off the Abuja- Kaduna Expressway, I was accosted by gunmen.
They pulled me off the road. I thought they were soldiers; before I knew what was happening, they started firing indiscriminately into the air. I was terrified. They dragged me out of my car into the bush. The next morning, they said I should call whoever I know could bail me.
I called one of my friends, Aliyu Tahir. They demanded N50m. My friend told them that none of us could afford such an amount of money. My friend ended up paying N500, 000 before I was released. The kidnappers also made away with my car; a Honda EOD saloon car, my laptop, a Samsung phone, ATM cards and the sum of N65, 000.
It was a traumatic experience for me. I thank God they had been arrested.” Recalling how he received news of Umar’s kidnap and subsequent ransom demand, Tahir said the gang left him with no other option, than to quickly look for the ransom. He said the kidnappers called him in the morning of June 16, to tell him that his friend, Umar, had been abducted.
They threatened to kill Umar if he (Tahir) didn’t pay the ransom. Tahir said: “I begged them not to kill him. The man that called insulted me. I thanked him. He switched off the phone. After about an hour, he called again. He said if I wanted my friend to live, I should bring N50m for his bail.
I told him we couldn’t even raise one percent of that money. I pleaded; we ended the negotiation at N500, 000. I was instructed to take the money to the Maraba area of Jos within 24 hours or Umar would be killed.” Tahir said that he was further instructed not to alert the police. The kidnappers later called and told him to go and pick Umar at Gidwa Takwas area, Abuja.https://newtelegraphonline.com/army-uniforms-make-easy-kidnap-diplomats/
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