The Niger State Police Command has arrested three suspects who posed as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), abducted two students of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai, and demanded ransom.
In a statement issued on Friday in Minna, the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, said the suspects stormed an off-campus students’ lodge on May 13 around 8:00 p.m., pretending to be EFCC officers.
They abducted two students and fled in a Toyota Corolla with registration number ABJ 245 CU.
Abiodun said, “The suspects whisked the students away under the pretense of being EFCC operatives. But as soon as the police received the distress report, operatives attached to Lapai Division mobilised and tracked the vehicle. They intercepted the suspects along Suleja Road, by Kwakuti, and arrested them.”
He identified the suspects as Emmanuel Linus, 30, of Deidei; Hyelda Aliyu, 28, of Nyanya; and Abduljallid Tanko, 33, of Karu, all from Abuja. One of the gang members, Alfa James, escaped the arrest.
“During interrogation, they confessed to the crime and revealed they were invited by informants. This, according to them, is how they make a living,” Abiodun added.
He said the suspects entered a student’s room holding three electric tasers disguised as guns, seized five mobile phones, and abducted two students.
“They had initially demanded N10 million as ransom, but later settled for N500,000 before our operatives swooped in,” he added.
Two informants, Mohammed Hassan and Hamisu Adamu, both of Angwan-Hausa in Lapai, were also arrested.
Abiodun revealed that one of the suspects, Emmanuel Linus, received information about the students from Hassan, whom he knew from Paiko. He also disclosed that Linus is a dismissed soldier with a prior conviction from two years ago.
“They further confessed that the fake EFCC ID cards they used were produced at a shop in Nyanya, Abuja, all bearing the same ID number, 1069,” he said.
The case, according to the police, has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation. The suspects will be charged in court upon completionof the investigation.
