By Nudoiba Ojen
The police in Kaduna State have arrested a suspected kidnapper, 28-year-old Bello Muhammad, who attempted to bribe a Divisional Police Officer with N1million to compromise a kidnapping case.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Kaduna State Command, ASP Mamsir Hassan, said that the suspect attempted to offer the DPO the amount from the N2.35million share he received from ransom.
Hassan said that following the arrest of the suspected kidnapper in a hotel, the Commissioner of Police, Kaduna State Command, A.D. Ali, has charged hoteliers, recreation and leisure service operators in the state “to always scrutinise the identity of their customers to avoid providing criminals with safe haven”.
The PPRO said, “Following the directives of the Commissioner of Police, CP A.D. Ali, to personnel to be proactive in their operation using intelligence-based policing approach, operatives attached to Police Divisional Headquarters Tafa, Kaduna, have arrested a suspected kidnapper and recovered a shared ransom.
“On January 19, 2024, at about 2200 hours, the said Divisional Headquarters received credible information regarding the presence of a suspicious person in the Easyway Hotel in Tafa town.
“Operatives led by the DPO stormed the hotel and arrested a certain 28-year-old Bello Muhammad from Zamfara State and recovered the sum of N2.35million suspected to be proceeds of kidnapping.
“During the course of investigation, the suspect admitted to being a kidnapper who operates with his gang around Kagarko Forest in Kaduna. The aforementioned sum is his own share of the ransom collected.
“Moreover, a check of his mobile phone corroborated the suspect’s confession, as pictures of him brandishing an AK47 rifle in a forest were retrieved.
“The said suspect, Bello Muhammad, thus offered a million-naira backhander to the DPO to stop him furthering the investigation, which the police officer forthwith rejected. Investigation is still ongoing as the suspect is assisting the police with vital information.”
The Commissioner of Police, CP Ali, while praising the Tafa Division’s operatives, urged them and others not to dwindle but to increase the tempo until crimes and criminality are reduced minimally.
