The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has arrested a pregnant woman and three other suspects allegedly linked to a kidnapping network operating within Abuja and its surrounding communities.
The Commissioner of Police in the FCT, Ahmed Mohammed Sanusi, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists at the command headquarters, saying the arrests followed a series of anti-kidnapping operations carried out in the Paze-Byazhin area of Bwari Area Council.
According to him, the initial operation was conducted on June 9, while a follow-up raid on June 11 led operatives to a suspected hideout used by kidnappers and bandits in the area.
Sanusi said the operation resulted in the arrest of four suspects identified as Yahaya Abdullahi, Muhammed Yunusa, Hauwa Shafiu and Shamsudeen Mustapha.
He explained that preliminary investigations indicated that the suspects were part of a criminal network allegedly involved in kidnapping and other violent crimes within and around the Federal Capital Territory.
The police commissioner stated that further findings revealed that members of the group had blended into local communities, enabling them to gather intelligence and facilitate attacks on targeted victims.
He alleged that one of the suspects, Hauwa Shafiu, served as a logistics provider and cook for the criminal group, supplying food and other support services to both the kidnappers and their captives.
Sanusi disclosed that Shafiu was heavily pregnant when she was apprehended and later delivered a baby while in police custody.
He added that both mother and child received adequate medical attention.
Items recovered from the suspects included four motorcycles, quantities of tramadol tablets, N320,000 cash, five mobile phones, a Point-of-Sale machine and various cooking utensils.
The police commissioner said investigations were ongoing and assured that the suspects would be prosecuted upon conclusion of the inquiry.
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