How we killed 50 kidnap victims because we couldn’t get ransoms — Kidnap suspect

A kidnap kingpin, Mohammed Sani, has narrated how his gang murdered over 50 of their victims whose families could not pay ransom.

Sani, who was paraded on Tuesday by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, alongside his gang members and 46 other suspected criminals at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad headquarters in Abuja, said he carried out his operations mainly in Kaduna, Katsina, Niger and Zamfara states.

Wearing a military camouflage, the 30-year-old said he worked for one Yellow Jambros, who gave him guns and military uniform for the kidnap operations.

He said he was a sector commander in the kidnapping ring and had over 120 men under his command.

Sani, who said he had lost count of how many kidnap operations he had carried out, said any of their victims on whom ransom was collected, was allowed to go, but those whose families could not cough out money were killed.

“I have lost count of the number of operations I have participated in, but we usually release those on whose heads we collect ransoms, while anyone, who could not pay or his relatives could not pay, was killed. We have killed over 50 persons who did not pay ransom.”

Mba disclosed that the suspect and his gang members were nabbed by the men of the Special Tactical Squad, adding that he had been on the police wanted list for a while.

He stated, “Sani’s area of speciality is kidnapping for ransom and banditry; occasionally, he veers into cattle rustling. He belongs to an organised kidnapping gang that has gone ahead to sectorise its 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, who is on our wanted list and known as Yellow Jambros.”

The force also paraded seven male suspects, including two soldiers, linked with the deadly attack on a bullion van in Abakiliki, Ebonyi State, on July 29, 2020.

He said the men carried out elaborate surveillance on the movement of the bullion van for over two weeks before they struck, during which four policemen were killed and their rifles taken away.

The police said the robbers could not access the money “because of reinforcement and courage shown by both the driver of the bullion van and other operatives.”

Mba explained that the suspects were eventually nabbed by the men of the Intelligence Response Team and other detectives, who carried out a massive investigation into the attempted heist.

He added, “The gang leader is Sunday Seyemi from Bayelsa State. Arms recovered from them include one GPMG rifle with 136 rounds of GPMG ammunition; six AK-47 rifles; 61 AK-47 magazines; five K2 magazines; 1,620 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition; two sets of army camouflage and assorted charms, and other house-breaking implements.

“Two suspects are still at large; we are closing upon them and certainly, will pick them up.”

Also, in custody is a 51-year-old man, Paul Okorie, and two others, who were arrested for illegally producing and selling military uniforms. A total of 583 pieces of uniforms were recovered from them.  (The Punch)