We killed more than 50 victims who couldn’t pay ransom – Suspect

A suspected kidnap kingpin, Mohammed Sani, 30, has said his gang killed more than 50 of his victims because they could not pay ransom.
Sani, made this disclosure, Wednesday in Abja, while he was paraded by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, alongside 46 other suspects at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Headquarters in Abuja.


The suspect, who said he carried out his operations mainly within Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara states, noted that he usually operated dressed in military uniform and worked for one Yellow Jambros, who gave him guns and military uniforms for operations.
According to Sani, he was a sector commander in the kidnapping ring and had over 120 men under his command.
Sani, who said he has lost count of how many kidnap operations he had carried out, said any of their victims that paid ransom was allowed to go, but those that could not were killed, noting that his gang had killed more than 50 who failed to pay ransom.


Addressing journalists Mba, who paraded the suspects, said Sani, who has been on the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) wanted list for a while was nabbed by men of the Special Tactical Squad (STS).
“His area of specialty is kidnapping for ransome and banditry. Occasionally he veers into cattle rustling. He belongs to an organized kidnapping gang that has gone ahead to sectorize their operations. Mohammed Sani is a sector commander within the larger kidnapping and banditry enterprise. He has over 100 men directly under his command. Sani reports to another big kidnapper that is on our wanted list known as Yellow Jambros,” Mba said.Also paraded were seven male suspects who directly linked with a deadly attack on a bullion van in Abakiliki in Ebonyi State on July 29, 2020.Mba said two of them were dismissed soldiers. He said, the men, after a very elaborate plan that involved them carrying out surveillance on the movement of the bullion van for over two weeks they eventually carried out the attack on the said date.


He said during the atatck four policemen were killed and their rifles taken away, but because of reinforcement and courage shown by both the driver of the bullion van and other operatives, they robbers could not take control of the bullion van and they were not successful in stealing any money.The Force Spokesperson said subsequently, the men of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and other detectives carried out a massive investigation that crisscrossed several states of the federation as the IGP ordered a massive manhunt for the suspects. He said oncerted efforts by the police eventually led to the arrest of the suspects.


“The gang leader is Sunday Seyemi from Bayelsa State. Arms recovered from them include one GPMG rifle with 136 rounds of GPMG ammunition, six AK47 rifles, 61 AK47 magazines, five K2 magazines, 1, 620 rounds of live AK47 ammunition, two sets of army camouflage and assorted charms and other house breaking implements. Two suspects still at large. We are closing up on them and certainly will pick them up. They will be arraigned soon,” Mba said.Also paraded was a 51 year old man Paul Okorie, and two others (one male, one female) who were arrested for illegally producing and selling military uniforms. A total of 583 pieces of these clothing were recovered from them.Mba said acting on very credible intelligence, operatives from the STS stormed some of the warehouses and business premises of these persons.Okorie, who said he was a dealer on men’s wears, said military personnel always came to him to buy the uniforms.He said they sold them strictly on presentation of military identity cards, even though he admitted he was not authorized to deal and sell uniform of members of the armed forces.

Also paraded was a 58-year old man, John Nneoma, who transported cartridges from the South-east to Taraba state, even as 864 live cartridges were recovered from him.He said when he delivered the cartridges, payment were made to him by cash or by bush-meat, which he collected to sell, adding that he concealed the cartridges in second hand cloths, which he also sells.Also paraded were Musa Adamu, 23, and Ibrahim Sailisu, 35, for unlawful possession of ammunition.Mba said 801 rounds of live AK47 ammunition and 819 rounds of live anti-aircraft ammunition.He said intelligence linked two suspects, who were arrested along Kaduna-Jos Road, to Yellow Jambros.The Force PRO said 47 suspects were arrested for various offenses including armed robbery, murder, kidnapping, and unlawful possession of firearms among others.Weapons recovered include 321 rounds of AK47 ammunition, nine pistols, 10 AK47 rifles, 864 rounds of live cartridges, 583 pieces of military camouflage, one GPMG rifle and N258, 570 cash,.he added.

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