Juliana Francis
 |
| IGP, Mohammed Adamu |
A suspect, Mustapha Mohammed, 26, has
revealed that the incessant kidnappings and killings along the Abuja-Kaduna
Expressway and other routes have stopped because he and his other partners in
crime were afraid of contracting COVID-19.
Mohammed disclosed that as soon as the
COVID-19 was arrested, kidnapping and other heinous crimes will resume along
the routes. The aforementioned routes have witnessed several kidnappings and
killings. Aside from civilians being kidnapped and some killed, a staggering
number of law enforcement officers had also been killed.
Mohammed, who was arrested by Operatives
of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT),
said that his arrest wouldn’t make any difference in the plans of the
kidnapping gang to immediately commence operation after COVID-19.
His words: “We have stopped kidnapping
for now because of the outbreak of COVID-19. We shall go back to our operation
when COVID-19 is over. We have radios and we listen to news. We have food in
our camps worth over N5million. We used to come out from our camps to buy
medicines and other items. In fact, it was because I came out to buy some items
that IRT Operatives arrested me. Our gang leader, Nasiru
Kachalam a.k.a Yellow, is inside the forest with all our guns. When I came out
to buy food for our gang members, I left my rifle in the care of a friend, who
is also member of our gang. When we kidnap women, Nasiru, Bello, Musa and Idris
will rape them. I don’t join them in raping our female victims because I have a
charm given to me by my father. The charm forbids me having sex when I have it
on me.”
The suspect explained that the gang
sometimes ago stopped kidnapping on highways because of too much disturbances
and interferences from law enforcement agents. He said that rather quit
operating on the highways, the gang decided to restrategise and change their
modus operandi. Now, rather than focus majorly on kidnapping victims on
highways, they target rich people’s homes and go there to abduct victims.
It was due to the change in the gang’s
modus operandi that they stormed the house of Mrs Bolanle Ataga, wife of a
medical doctor, Philip Ataga. They also attacked a seminary where Michael Nnadi
was abducted. Mohammed admitted that the gang aside from numerous kidnappings
on highways had lost counts of the number of houses and villages it had
attacked, abducting victims.
The gang after abducting 18-year-old Nnadi,
they killed him. The gang also killed Mrs Ataga.
According to Mohammed, both victims were
killed by Nasiru, the leader of the kidnap gang. Nasiru killed Mrs Bolanle
Ataga by inflicting machete cuts on her after she rebuffed his attempts to rape
her.
Mohammed said: “Nasiru thought that the
woman would cooperate, but when he tried to rape her, she bit him. He got
angry, brought out a cutlass and cut her on the head and stomach. She fell to
the ground and started bleeding. She died at the spot. Nasiru ordered that the
woman’s corpse be taken to a certain location and dumped there. He then called
her husband to go and pick her corpse.”
The same Nasiru also shot Nnadi to death
because the seminarian preached to him, asking him to repent from his evil ways
of kidnappings, killings and raping.
Mohammed recalled: “Our leader was angry
with Nnadi for preaching to him. He asked why such small rat should be
preaching to him about God. Our leader had already released Nnadi, but when the
victim was getting close to the seminary, he brought out his rifle and shot him.”
Nasiru killed both victims after
collecting ransoms from their respective families. He collected N8million from
Mrs Ataga’s family and N10million for the seminarian release.
Our reporter gathered that the
cold-bloodedness of Nasiru has made IRT Operatives to place him on their Most
Wanted Persons List. It is further gathered that the operatives are closing in
on him.
Mohammed’s gang specialised in
kidnapping and terrorising the Abuja-Kaduna expressways and other routes in
northern parts of Nigeria. Investigations also showed that Mohammed’s gang was
just one of several gangs causing havoc on major routes in the north.
Mohammed was arrested at Maraban-Jos,
along Kaduna Zaria Expressway. IRT Operatives later used him as bait to catch two
other members of the gang, while the hunt for other fleeing members of the gang
continues.
Mohammed explained that before the gang
members graduated to kidnapping, rape and murder, they were just farmers, who
started out with cattle rustling.
Mohammed, a widower with one child, said
he assisted his father in rearing cows. When he started rearing cows for his
dad, the old man had just 10 cows, but today, the family has over 50 cows. It
is believed that he rustled most of the cows from unsuspecting victims.
Mohammed said: “I joined kidnapping
three years ago. It was our gang leader Nasiru that introduced me to
kidnapping. I met Nasiru while I was
rearing cows. We became friends and went into cattle rustling. We rustled as
many as 200 and 400 cows at an operation. Nasiru was in charge of selling the
cows. On my first cattle rustling
operation, I was given N700, 000, but on the second and third operation, Nasiru
used the money we realised to buy AK47 rifles and ammunition. We have many
cartons of live ammunition in our camp with over 51 pieces of AK47 rifles. Nasiru
sometimes sells our ammunition. There’s a guy that used to supply us the arms
and ammunition. I don’t know his name, but Nasiru knows him well.”
Mohammed said that as the gang continued
with cattle rustling and buying of guns, their armoury swelled. They then
decided that the guns would be more useful in kidnapping than cattle rustling.
He and Nasiru organized and got more members into the gang.
He said: “Our first operation was at Rigana
area, where we kidnapped four persons by first blocking the Abuja Kaduna
Expressway. We were 15 men that went for that first operation. Nasiru of
course, led the operation. We all wore military camouflage uniforms and mounted
five motorcycles. We mounted three check points. The first check point was for
us to monitor those driving expensive cars and alert our colleagues at other check
points to set the trap and launch an attack. In our first operation, we
kidnapped two persons in a jeep and another two in a Golf car. We took the victims into Rigana Forest, where
we held them in captive for 10 days before N6million ransom was paid.”
According to Mohammed, he got N400, 000
as his share in his first kidnap operation. Whenever victims were abducted,
Nasiru and another gang member, Amedo handled ransom negotiations.
“In my third operation, we used the same
method of mounting check points and using military uniforms to operate. We
chose the vehicles that had rich people and ended up kidnapping five victims
that day. We collected N10million ransom from them and I got N500,000 as my
share,” said Mohammed.
The suspect said that part of the gang’s
modus operandi was to contract commercial cyclists, who they pay to help them
source for rich victims to kidnap. After ransom is paid, the cyclists would be given
their own share of the money.
The gang was part of those that stormed Engravers
College, Kakawu Daji, area in Kaduna State, where they abducted six students
and two teachers. The gang collected N15million before the eight victims were
released. Mohammed said that the gang also carried out three other major
kidnapping operations along Abuja Kaduna Expressway. One was the abduction of
four Rigana villagers along the Abuja Kaduna Expressway. The victims spent
seven days in the kidnappers’ den and only got their freedom after family
members cough up N6million. The second major operation was at Gadam Mallam
Maman, village, along the Abuja-Kaduna Express Road, where the gang kidnapped
three passengers and later smiled away with N4million ransom. Mohammed
disclosed that the gang made N10million from the attack on Olam Farms Company,
where they abducted some people.
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