The Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase’s elite squad, Special Intelligence Team (SIT), has burst a gang in Oyo State, which specialised in kidnapping and robbing members of their community. The police arrested six members of the gang including a suspect, Hassan Maikudi, 30, who allegedly connived with the group to kidnap his rich father for N1.5million ransom. Detectives said that the suspect monitored his father as he was going to mosque for prayers and alerted the gang. He however denied any complicity in his father’s kidnap, insisting that he was wrongly accused by his friends.
The suspects, Abdullahi Mohammed, 35, Abubakar Abubakar, 28, Damanya Gambo, 30, Usman Idris, Usman Saidu, 30 and Hassan, 30, were arrested after many reports of armed robberies and kidnappings of notable personalities. Mohammmed, a Fulani native of Kwara State, who also claimed to be a graduate of Mathematics from the Kwara State University, said he has two wives and three kids. According to him, poverty forced him to embrace crime. Mohammed said: “There were several operations we did together and I usually get my share of the money. Last month, the gang went and kidnapped Alhaji Maikudi. He is a rich cattle rearer. It was his son, Hassan, who brought the job. I didn’t and still don’t know his reason for planning the kidnap of his father. “Hassan is also my friend. He works with his father as a herdsman.
They have many cows. He gave the information to Danmayan and they kidnapped his father and took him into the bush. They kept him there for one week before N1.5m ransom was paid. The man was thereafter released. During the operation, I was in the community monitoring what was happening. I attended meetings and took part in the planning of how we would search and rescue Alhaji Maikudi.”
According to the police, two communities, Okeho and Iganna, in Iwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo State had been under the grip of kidnappers and robbers for long. The communities comprise Fulani cattle herdsmen and the Yoruba. It was gathered that Maikudi’s kidnap almost generated bad blood between the Fulani and Yoruba before Arase deployed his men to go undercover, mix with members of the communities in order to find out those behind the incessant kidnappings and robberies. Within two weeks, the SIT operatives got information leading to the arrest of the suspects. Residents of these communities which are border towns to Republic of Benin, have been living in fear over activities of these hoodlums.
The residents described those behind the robberies and kidnappings as “very powerful and children of rich Fulani herdsmen.” It was further learnt that most victims of the gang were rich cattle traders, residing within Iwajowa LGA. Although six members of the gang were arrested, it was learnt that other members are still at large. SIT squad recovered N200, 000 and some charms from the suspects. When news of the suspects’ arrest broke, members of the communities hailed the police. A resident, Jimoh Abbas, a native of Okeho, said that for long, the Fulani had been suspecting the Yoruba because most of the victims were Fulanis. Abbas explained:
“The Fulani elders in our community thought that it was we the Yoruba boys that were committing these atrocities. Whenever we go close to them, they would look suspiciously at us. On our part, we also suspected their boys. We noticed the lavish way they spend money. We knew they couldn’t afford that kind of lifestyle.
Tension was building. We thank God the policemen from Abuja solved the problem.” Mohammed explained that after graduating from the university, he secured a teaching job and his monthly take home pay was N150, 000. He however described the salary as miserly. He said: “I quit my job because I wanted to join the Nigerian Army.
I applied but I wasn’t accepted. I obtained an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) from the Kwara State Polytechnic in Mathematics and Statistics in 2005. I went further to obtain a Bsc in Mathematics from the Kwara State University. I graduated in 2009 before proceeding for the National Youth Service. I started working in 2011.
I got a job at a private secondary school in Okeho. I was very popular among the residents of the area, especially people of my tribe. I grew up in that area with my parents and siblings. I was also staying there with my wives and children. Most of my friends knew I wasn’t making enough money. “Few months ago, two of them, Damanya and Abubakar, approached me.
They said that since I was highly respected and well known in the community, I could make good money for myself by giving them information about rich people residing in the community. I asked what they needed to do with such information. They said in most cases, they would either rob or kidnap such persons.”
Mohammed said that Damanya told him that all they needed was for him to look out for potential targets and alert them. He recalled: “In the case of kidnapping, I would be on the ground to gather information from relatives of the victims. In other cases, I would have to trail the targets and give them information on the persons they planned to rob.
We did a couple of jobs. I once gave them information when they wanted to rob a cattle rearer after he sold his cattle. I informed them when the man came home. I followed him until he mounted a motorcycle. I gave them the information. By evening, the news went round that the man was robbed and the money he made from the sale of his cattle snatched.
In that operation, I got N40, 000.” Remembering other operations, Mohammed said that there was a time the gang blocked the highway leading to the border and robbed traders going for business of their money. “Whenever they returned from such operations, they would bring my own share.
I guess this was because they didn’t want me to tell anyone about them,” said Mohammed. He recollected that after the kidnap of Maikudi, he, his father and some of those that kidnapped the man, joined in the search party raised by the community. “Some of my gang members were also with them.
They were relaying information to those holding Alhaji hostage. On my part, I was giving them information about any plan hatched by members of the community. Hassan ensured that the sum of N1.5m was paid as ransom after some of his father’s cattle was sold. He got N700, 000 as his share. Me, Abubakar, Damanya and Saidu got N200, 000 each.
I had barely spent my money when I was arrested,” said Mohammed. He said that he was picked up in a bar, where he had gone to have some drinks. He said that he actually saw some men drinking, but he didn’t know they were policemen. He recalled that he even attempted to buy drinks for them. But before he knew what was happening, the detectives had arrested and whisked him away He said: “I thought the policemen were from Ibadan on routine raiding. I threatened to call my lawyer. It was when I got here I realised I was in a deep mess! I told the police the role I played and took them to my house and handed over my N200, 000 share of the ransom to them.”
Another suspect, Abubkar, a Fulani from Kwara State, confessed to have received the sum of N80, 000 from the gang. He said: “Whenever the gang goes for operation, they usually give me my share. It was Damanya who instructed Mohammed to bring the money to me. I’m not into the business full time. I have my own business. I sell telephone accessories and everyone within our community knows me very well.
The only operation I took active role was the kidnap of Maikudi. It was his son, Hassan, who brought the deal to Damanya. They did all the preparations. Before the man was abducted, Hassan was the one who monitored the road and informed us when his father left the house and headed to the mosque.
The man was waylaid and abducted. “I was part of the search party that went into the bush to look for him. I sent information to my colleagues. After the operation, I learnt I had a share of N200, 000. I didn’t get it before I was arrested. I told them all I knew. I led them to arrest others.”
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