Suspect: Why we killed businessman after collecting ransom

Juliana Francis

Two suspected kidnappers, Salisu Abdullahi, 28 and Babangida Usman have revealed why shot a business man to death after his family paid ransom for his release.

The suspects were busted by Operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for their involvement in the abduction of a Reverend Father, Tony Bawa and five others.

Among the five others kidnapped by Abdullahi and Usman was the businessman called Chinedu. According to the police, the suspects are part of a five-man gang that had been terrorizing some northern parts of the country. Presently, three members of the kidnap gang are presently at large.

One of the suspects, Abdullahi, a farmer, said that he was into cattle rustling before he joined kidnapping gang. The suspect, who is married with three children, said that he joined the gang last year, describing himself as an orphan.

He narrated: “My gang has kidnapped up to six people since I joined. Our leader usually carries out surveillance of an area and target before the attack. Most of our targets are usually prominent people. After our leader has gathered enough intelligence on victims, he would then inform us. We have kidnapped people from Kushemakaranta, Rafinkinba, Kuditlri, Kwei, Anasarawa Express Road and Kurumikari, all in Kaduna State. One of the suspects we kidnapped and later killed was Chinedu, a businessman. Our gang leader gave us information about him because he resides in the same community with him. He was kidnapped in his apartment. Chinedu spent three days in our custody before his family paid N500, 000. After he paid the ransom, we killed him because he fought with one of our members. Our leader ordered that we should kill him.”

Abdullahi further explained: “The second suspect was also called Chinedu, a trader. He was riding his motorcycle to Kagaruko when our leader called and gave us direction on where to locate him. We abducted and took him into the bush. We collected N700, 000 ransom from him.  I don't know the name of the third victim, but we also collected N700, 000 as ransom from him too. We kidnapped him at the market place. He sells ginger and we told him we had ginger in the farm, he volunteered to follow us. On the way, we kidnapped him. The fourth victim is the Reverend Father. We broke into his house at Kushemakaranta at about 3: am. We went with three guns. When we got there, we knocked and he opened the door. He was the only one at home and he didn't put up any resistance. We took him into the bush and released him after N1m ransom was paid. We also kidnapped another Reverend Father and collected N8millon from his people before we released him. The sixth victim was kidnapped in the farm and we collected N300, 000.”

Abdullahi said that his role in the gang was that of a “watchman.”

He explained: “I keep watch on our victims until they pay ransom. I have made N800, 000 in all the operations, and I used the money to buy drinks and date women. Nobody knew I was a kidnapper in my community.”

Babangida on the other hand said that his role in the gang was to guard kidnapped victims, adding that he had made at least N600, 000 from kidnapping.   

Babangida recounted: “We don't kidnap women because they are the ones who run around to raise the ransom money, so that their husbands would be released.”

In the same vein, the IRT arrested two brothers, Abubakar Suleiman, 36, and Awalu Suleiman, 25, for kidnapping. The siblings are from Manufashi Local Government Area of Katsina State.

According to the brothers, they had so far carried out several kidnapping operations. The elder brother, Abubakar, was first arrested following intelligence report. When the younger brother, Awalu, heard his brother had been arrested, he went to the house of the supposed police informant, Isah Abdul, and killed him.

Abubakar said: “The first person I kidnapped was Alhaji Abass. To get information about him was easy because we live in the same community. He has his own filling station. Dogo, our gang leader, who is still at large, called him on phone to bring N300, 000. He threatened that if he didn’t obey, he would be kidnapped. When Abass brought the money, we collected it and still kidnapped him. We collected additional N500, 000 for his release. That is how we used to threaten people. My gang also kidnapped two Igbo businessmen selling medicine in that community. Our modus operation is to call the victim, to come and pay us certain amount of money to avoid being killed. Once the person comes with the money, we will kidnap him. At times, we go to the houses of victims to kidnap them. The role I play in the gang is to pick passengers with my motorcycle, when I get to the junction where my gang members are, I’ll stop and my gang members will come out of the bush to snatch the ‘passenger.’ I have an AK47 rifle. I bought it for N470, 000. I was a cattle farmer before I joined kidnapping.”

Awalu said: “We were three that went to the informant’s house. Myself, Dogo and Mutari. The informant once stole our cattle and I suspected he was the person that gave the information that led to my brother's arrest. We stormed his house by 12 midnight and met him sleeping. We forced the door open and saw him holding a machete. We opened fire on him. I killed him because he also belonged to a kidnapping gang, so why should he expose my brother.”