Police Nab Dismissed Soldier, Others For Kidnapping

Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have arrested a dismissed soldier, Gabriel David Elihu of Apo Mechanic Village and Alex Iorjaa of Gboko local government area of Benue State for armed robbery and kidnapping in Abuja.

FCT police commissioner, Mr Ben Igweh, said the suspects were arrested on March 17, 2024, after receiving a distress call at about 02:30 pm through the Mabushi Division from the victims; Blessing Mafulul Damia and Haliru Zakari.

The victims told the police that some men in an unregistered Toyota Hilux trailed them while on their way home from H-Medix, Gwarimpa to Gishiri village, robbed them of their valuables and attempted to kidnap them.

Igweh said, “Upon receipt of the information, police operatives of the division swung into action, trailed the vehicle and arrested the two suspects – Elihu and Iorjaa. A black colour Toyota Hilux with Reg No. NBB 03 AH (Nasarawa), a jack knife and some military accoutrements were recovered from them. Suspects will be charged to court soon,” he said.

Also, the police commissioner said on March 14, 2023 at about 5:30 pm, “Akuh Chinemezeh reported at Apo Divisional Headquarters that his younger brother, Pascal Akuh, 28, called him that he was arrested by the police and taken to SCID custody. On the strength of this, the police and suspect’s family went to SCID, IRT and FCID detention facilities, only to discover that he was not in any of the aforementioned facilities.

“With the help of a tracker using coordinates, the suspect’s vehicle was traced to an area in Wumba, Apo. Acting on this intelligence, the police operatives from Apo Division swiftly mobilised to the scene, searched the entire axis and subsequently traced the suspect to a hotel in Lokogoma later in the night and arrested him. During interrogation, the suspect confessed that he only faked his own kidnap to prank the lady he intended to marry to know if she really loves him.”

In a similar development, the police said, “On March 11, 2024 at about 7:40 pm, Chiedozie Ubah, male of Saburi II Dei-dei, Abuja, reported at Gwa Gwa Division that his pregnant wife Rosemary Ubah left home to the hospital on the same date for a scan but did not return home.

“He later received a call through his wife’s phone number telling him that she had been kidnapped and demanded for N2 million ransom before her release. He transferred the sum of N2 million into his wife’s account as instructed by the kidnapper. He later brought his wife to the station after her release. During interrogation, the wife freely confessed to have conspired with one man named Walter Ezeala, living in the same street with them at Saburi to extort money from her husband.

“The said Walter was arrested and he confessed that his own share was N800,000 and the lady took N1,200,000. The sum of N793,500 cash, two FCMB ATM cards and two android phones were recovered from them,” he said.