By Chioma Okezie-Okeh
An informant and five armed men were all it took to abduct a serving officer of the Nigeria Customs Service from his house in Taraba State.
In a commando style, they grabbed him and killed a police sergeant who rushed to the scene immediately the family sent out a distress call.
Luckily, operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team were able to track some of them down from their various hideouts in Adamawa and Taraba. The suspects identified as Gambo Isah, Sanusi Ahmadu, Mallam Mohammed Mauludu, and Ibrahim Idi, all indigenes of Taraba State were also linked to the kidnapping of a relative of the Emir of Jalingo.
According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mbah, a Commissioner of Police, the arrest of the suspects was the outcome of the deployment of operatives of the Intelligence Response Team by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, to Taraba State to complement the efforts of the Taraba State Police Command in promptly contain the disturbing trend of kidnapping, armed robbery, and other violent crimes in the State.
“Police investigations revealed that the suspects, who have also been on the wanted list of the Taraba Police Command, are members of a notorious kidnap syndicate and have been evidentially linked to the recent upsurge in incidents of kidnapping in the state, including the deliberate and calculated attacks on security personnel.
“Two of the suspects, Gambo Isah and Sanusi Ahmadu masterminded the killing of the Police Sergeant and left a Police Inspector with gunshot injuries in their recent operation to enable them escape arrest having abducted some victims in Jalingo recently.
The police team equally recovered seven AK47 rifles, two Beretta pistols, 121 rounds of live ammunition of different calibre, four magazines, masks, illicit drugs and other incriminating items during raids of various hideouts of the suspects in the state.”
Their confession
Although the leader of the gang, Hassan and the alleged informant are still on the run, three of the suspects admitted that they were actively involved in all the kidnap operations.
According to Gambo Isah, the informant collected the highest share after ransom was paid. Said he: “I am 38 and married to two wives. I joined the kidnapping gang in 2018 because Hassan told me that it was the fastest way to make money. I joined him, and that was how I raised money to marry a second wife. I have lost count of the number of persons that we kidnapped. We only operate in Adamawa and Taraba. If we want to block the highway, we move with about 50 persons so that security men will run away.
“It was Baba that brought most of the targets that we did this year and he would always take the giant share. It was after the Custom man’s case that he bought a new house. The man paid three million naira before he was released.”
On his part, Sanusi Adamu, who is from Jade in Adamawa State, claim that all the money he made from kidnapping was used to increase the number of cows in his barn. “I am 28-year-old and Hassan was the one who introduced me into the kidnapping business. In 2017, thieves stole more than 20 of my cows and I was desperate. It was while I was trying to trace the people who stole my cow that I met Hassan. He told me that the only way I can recover what I lost was through kidnapping and robbery. Just like he promised, the first operation that I joined them to execute, we stole so many cows and I was given three as my share. I took it home, pretending that I had recovered some of them.
It is by the number of cows that you have that my village people will see you as successful and allow you to marry their daughter. Hassan has taken us to Adamawa and Taraba where we did a lot of kidnapping.”
On how they perfected the kidnap of the Custom personnel, Sanusi claimed that they got the information from one Baba who informed them that the Custom officer was very rich. “He was the one who informed us that the man was at home. We struck and kidnapped him. It was while we were at it that policemen came and started shooting. Some of our men who were inside the bush were able to hit two of them and ran away. It was Hassan that took their rifles and gave it to Mallam Mohammed.
We also picked Abdul Yerima, brother of the Emir of Jalingo, with the help of Baba. He is well known by the family; this was how he got information that led to the successful kidnap of the man.”
Sanusi was later tracked down to his village in Garindogo where he was arrested. Another suspect, Ibrahim Idi, told Saturday Sun that the sharing formula for the ransom collected from Emir family led to the death of some of their members. “I am 22 and Hassan is our leader. It was one Sani that introduced me to Hassan. We were taken to the bush where we met Hassan. He is our gang leader and the one who directs every operation.
“The Emir family paid N8.9million before we released their brother. We invited some other gang members to join us to kidnap him. They refused to accept our sharing formula and there was a serious argument. Hassan got angry and shot three of them. Everyone scattered because there was fear that the leader of the other gang might attack us. I believe they are the ones who told the police how to arrest some of us.”
The eldest among the suspects, Malam Mohammed Mauludu claimed that he had stopped joining them to kidnap so many years ago.
“I am 51 years and from Abarie in Taraba. Kidnapping is for the young ones because they trek a lot and should be agile enough to run. To make small change for myself, I normally allow them to bring their rifles for safekeeping. I do not know anything about the policeman that was killed. I will never collect a rifle that belongs to a policeman.”