A Kaduna divisional police officer (DPO) name withheld) has rejected a N1 million bribe offered him by a suspected bandit after his arrest in a hotel in a Kaduna community
The Kaduna State command police public relations officer ASP Mansir Hassan told journalists that the arrest of the bandit was made on January 19, 2024.
He said the suspect offered the bribe out of the ransom recovered from him by the police at a hotel in Tafa community.
Hassan said, “The divisional headquarters received credible information regarding the presence of the suspected person at a hotel in Tafa town and their operatives led by the divisional police officer (DPO) stormed the hotel and arrested a certain 28-year-old Bello Muhammad from Zamfara State and recovered the sum of N2.350 million, suspected to be proceeds of kidnapping.
He said during the investigation, the suspect admitted to being a kidnapper who operated with his gang around Kagarko Forest in Kaduna.
Hassan said the aforementioned sum was the suspect’s share of a ransom collected, adding that a check on his mobile phone corroborated his confession as pictures of him brandishing an AK47 rifle in a forest were seen.
“The said suspect Bello Muhammad offered a million naira backhander to the DPO to stop him from furthering the investigation, which the police officer forthwith rejected. The investigation is still ongoing as the suspect is assisting the police with vital information,” he said.
The commissioner of police, Kaduna State Command, CP A.D Ali, who commended the Tafa Division’s operatives, urged them and others not to compromise but to increase the tempo until crime and criminality are reduced to the barest minimum in Kaduna and Nigeria in general.
The CP further tasked all hoteliers, recreation and leisure service operators in the State to always scrutinize the identity of their customers to avoid providing criminals with a safe haven.
