To End Vicious Circle, Police Urged To Investigate Kidnap Cases Despite Ransom Payment

Residents of Jos and Bukuru metropolis are worried over incessant kidnappings of high profile people in the area. From first week of January till date, over five kidnap cases were reported in Jos, Plateau State.

Recall that recently the community security and security personnel attached to the Speaker of the State House of Assembly Rt. Hon Yakubu Sanda, foiled a kidnap attempt on the speaker.

Again, not long after, the police also rescued the permanent secretary, Ministry of Works, Engr. Alexander Plangnan, who was kidnapped in his official Hilux vehicle at the gate of his residence in Jos by four unknown gunmen.

It was gathered that the scene of the incident was visited by the DPO Rantya, SP Ayuba Iliya and his team. Through joint collaboration of Rantya, Jengre Police Divisions and the Anti-Kidnapping unit of Plateau State Command, the victim was rescued and his vehicle was recovered at Mistali village of Bassa LGA same day.

Similarly, the Plateau State Police Command has recorded another feat when they arrested a Pastor and his accomplices for staging his kidnap in the state.

According to the Police Public Relation Officer (PPRO) DSP Alfred Alabo, Pastor Albarka Bitrus Sukuya of Jenta Apata, Jos, had on several occasions staged his own kidnap with his cohorts and received ransom from members of his congregation.

He said following Sukuya’s kidnappings on 14 of November 2022 and 30 November 2022, where the sums of N400,000 and N200,000 were respectively paid by his sympathisers as ransom for his release, the incidents triggered suspicion and through credible intelligence, the clergyman was invited by the DPO of Nassarawa Gwong Police Division, CSP Musa Hassan, and investigation commenced immediately.

He revealed that in the course of the investigation, it was established that the suspect had been conspiring with his gang to stage his kidnap and fraudulently collect ransom saying the operatives arrested two of the accomplices namely, Baruk Mailale and Nathaniel Bitrus.

Furthermore the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Pankshin Division in Plateau State has also been reportedly kidnapped by gunmen. He was since rescued unhurt by the combined efforts of Police vigilante group and hunters and is reunited with his family members .

Worried over the tragic incidences, North Central Zonal Coordinator of Civil Liberties Organisation, Comrade Steve Aluko, said the police need to build a regional intelligence gathering network, adding that some of those kidnapped are sometimes taken out of Plateau to neighbouring states.

Aluko also advised that the police should ensure they investigate all kidnap cases, because in some cases proper investigations are not carried out once the victims family has paid ransom and secured their release, it ends there.

Speaking to our correspondent in Jos, the commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, CP Bartholomew Onyeka, said he has refined the operational template of the command so criminals are at a disadvantage and can hardly escape when they commit any crime.