TRACKING___The suspects confessed to have carried out several other random operations along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
Police operatives have arrested a gang of suspects for the kidnap and murder of a Catholic seminarian, Nnadi Michael, in Kaduna State.
This comes three months after the suspects invaded the Catholic Good Shepherd Major Seminary at Gonin Gora, Kakau in Chikun Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, confirmed the arrest of the three suspects in a statement on Sunday.
They are Tukur Usman ‘m’ age 37 and father of seven; Shehu Bello ‘m’ age 40 and father of five; and Mustapha Mohammed ‘m’ age 30 and father of one, all of Igabi LGA of Kaduna State.
Mba said during the attack which occurred on January 9, the suspects were said to have kidnapped four seminarians and murdered one of them.
The body of Michael was found in a bush where it was abandoned while the remaining three were released on January 31 after a ransom was paid.
According to Mba, the suspects were arrested after several months of intensive and extensive intelligence-led operations by crack detectives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
He said, “Discreet investigations so far reveal that the arrested suspects are part of a 19-man gang that also carried out the kidnap of Dr Phillip Ataga’s wife and two daughters on January 24, 2020, at Juji Community in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State.”
“Mrs Ataga was killed by the gang following her heroic resistance to the despicable and inhuman attempt by the leader of the gang to rape her.
“The suspects after killing her released the daughters and corpse of the slain woman to the family after collecting ransom,” the police spokesman added.
He disclosed that further investigations revealed that the same gang was responsible for the kidnap of six students and two teachers of Engravers College in Chikun LGA from their school premises on October 3, 2019.
The suspects, Mba stated, were known to belong to a hybrid terrorist criminal network causing untold havoc in the north-central region of the country.
He said they have also confessed to several other random operations along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway where they “kidnapped, killed and robbed motorists, collecting ransom and valuables running into millions of naira”.
In his reaction, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, stressed that the force would remain unrelenting in ensuring that crimes across the country were reduced to the barest minimum.
He also assured Nigerians that the police would not rest until the other fleeing members of the gang arrested were apprehended and brought to book.
