Twenty-six kidnap suspects have been arrested in different parts of the Federal Capital Territory by the operatives of the joint counter-kidnapping operation involving the police, the military and other security agencies tagged: Operation Sharan Daji.
Their arrest followed the abduction of over 20 victims from Asokoro, Wuse, Kuje, Kwali and other parts of the FCT in the past two months.
The suspects, including one Juri Abubakar, who allegedly supplied foodstuffs to a kidnap gang, and a 40-year-old man, Usman Abdullahi, are believed to be part of different kidnap syndicates operating in the Kuje, Rubochi, Kwali and Abaji areas.
Parading the suspects in Abuja on Wednesday, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Bala Ciroma, said four locally-fabricated firearms, a Dane gun with 10-round cylinder loader, four cartridges, three cutlasses, three face masks, 24 wraps of substance suspected to be marijuana, several identity cards and charms were recovered from them.
The police also arrested Zaharadeen Abubakar, 23; Hamza Garba; Usman Ibrahim, 25; Jubril Yusuf, 24; and Ismail Tijani, 20, who is a student of the University of Abuja, for conniving and threatening to kidnap their victim.
The suspects allegedly demanded N500,000 from the victim before they were apprehended by the police.
Exhibits recovered from them, according to the CP, are three cutlasses, a Samsung phone, a SIM card and knife.
Tijani, an agric education student of the University of Abuja, explained that he got involved in the attempted kidnap through one of his neighbours, Jubril. Punch