The Niger State Police Command has arrested three suspects for impersonating operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and for allegedly abducting and robbing students of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai.
In a statement issued on Friday in Minna, the command’s public relations officer, Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed that two informants who aided the suspects were also apprehended.
According to Abiodun, the incident occurred at about 8:00 p.m. on May 13, when four suspects stormed a students’ off-campus lodge and abducted two students under the false pretense of being EFCC officials.
He said the suspects took the students away in a Toyota Corolla with registration number ABJ 245 CU. Officers from the Lapai Division immediately mobilized and pursued the vehicle, intercepting it along Suleja Road, near Kwakuti, where the arrests were made.
Abiodun identified the arrested suspects as Emmanuel Linus, 30, of Deidei; Hyelda Aliyu, 28, of Nyanya; and Abduljallid Tanko, 33, of Karu—all from Abuja.
“The suspects were arrested with the said vehicle, but unfortunately, one Alfa James among the suspects escaped from the scene,” Abiodun stated.
He explained that during interrogation, the suspects confessed that the operation was initiated by their informants and that such activities were their “means of livelihood.”
“They entered one of the students’ rooms with three electric tasers disguised as guns, collected five mobile phones, and abducted two persons,” he added.
Abiodun disclosed that the suspects initially demanded a ransom of N10 million from the victims, later negotiating it down to N500,000 before their arrest.
“They confessed further that the ID cards used were designed at a shop in Nyanya, Abuja, and all bore the same identification number: 1069,” he said.
The police spokesperson also named the two informants as Mohammed Hassan and Hamisu Adamu, both residents of Angwan-Hausa in Lapai. He noted that Hassan and Emmanuel Linus knew each other from Paiko, which facilitated the planning of the crime.
Further investigation revealed that Emmanuel Linus is a dismissed soldier with a history of criminal activity and was previously convicted two years ago.
Abiodun concluded that the case is currently under investigation at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), and all suspects will be charged in court upon completion of the investigation.
(NAN)
