Police officers have detained eight suspected kidnappers, including two female informants, in various locations in Bauchi State.
They were apprehended in July during operations that also resulted in the neutralization of numerous other alleged kidnappers and the rescue of 10 abduction victims.
Auwal Musa Muhammad, the state’s commissioner of police, made this announcement on Thursday at a press conference held at the Bauchi police command center.
The police chief further revealed that during the operations, 70 cows, 60 sheep, and 60 goats that were thought to have been rustled were also found.
According to CP Muhammad, on July 2, 2023, members of a six-person gang, including two women, who were terrorizing Burra in the Ningi Local Government Area of the State were apprehended, leading to the destruction of their hideout in the Burra forest.
Many of the kidnappers were neutralized during the operation, according to the CP, because of the police’s intense superior weaponry, while others fled in confusion and sustained gunshot wounds.
He listed the individuals who had been apprehended as being Hamisu Umaru (30, disabled), Ahmadu Abdullahi (18), Adamu Wada Tela (18), Usman Iliya (15), as well as female informants Rabi Tela Abdulmumini and Hajara Bello.
“On July 2, 2023, the Command successfully apprehended six (6) suspected kidnapping gangs and their informants, resulting in the capture of four (4) guys and two (2) girls who terrorized Burra village and Ningi LGA.
“As a result, the kidnappers’ hideout in Burra Forest was destroyed after the apprehension of the aforementioned suspects. Many kidnappers were neutralized as a result of the police’s intense superior firepower, while others fled in confusion and sustained gunshot wounds.
Additionally, the Command freed five (5) kidnapped victims from the kidnappers’ den during the operations.
A woman and her child from Kurmi village, three Fulani from Kurmi with their three (3) motorcycles, and Mai Unguwan from Kayel village in the Balma district are among them, according to the police commander.
He continued by saying that on July 31, 2023, five more abducted people were freed from the Burra jungle as part of an operation that also resulted in the arrest of two suspected kidnappers and the recovery of 70 cows, 60 sheep, and goats that had been stolen.
Another development was that the police, acting on information from a Good Samaritan, destroyed a group of cattle rustlers terrorizing Ningi and the surrounding area.
According to CP Muhammad,
“on 29/07/2023 information was received from a Good Samaritan that on the same date at about 0300hrs two unknown people armed with cutlasses and sticks trespassed into the house of one Haruna Idi ‘m’, aged 23yrs of Zahi village via Burra village, and beat the occupant to an unconscious condition and made away with his cows.
“On receipt of information, a team of detectives drafted from Ningi Divisional Headquarters swung into action, rushed to the scene and found one of the culprits by name Abubakar Ahmed ‘m’, aged 45yrs neutralized by mob action. They also arrested Abdullahi Ahmadu ‘m’, aged 22yrs and recovered the cows from them.”