Niger State Police Command has clarifiy position on trending video of alleged release of suspected kidnappers in Mokwa.
The Police said all the suspects have been arraigned.
According to a statement signed by ASP Abiodun, the Police Public Relations Officer for the State, three of the kidnappers were first arraigned before the two others as their cases were not the same.
He said the first three were involved in Mokwa kidnapping while the two others were involved in Jebba kidnapping.
He therefore debunked the report of the viral video.
The statement reads: “The Niger State Police Command wishes to respond to a trending video made by one Vigilante head of Mokwa alleging that five suspected kidnappers were arrested in their area and only three were charged to court and so on.
“The Command wishes to state that the five suspects referred to in the trending video are;
-Mohammed Dansajo
-Mohammed Dange of Kara Village -Abubakar Usman Abule of Kara-Jebba, Mokwa. Others are
-Mohammed Umar
-Abubakar Usman of Tunga-Ruwa village, via Mokwa
“The first three suspects were arrested in connection to a kidnapping incident which occurred on March 14th, 2024 at about 10pm, where some hoodlums invaded a shop at Sawmill, Mokwa and abducted a victim. Police detectives commenced investigation and recovered two handsets from the scene with a live cartridge.
“The phones were scrutinized and one suspect Mohammed Dansajo of Tunga in Mokwa was identified as the owner of the phones, which led to his arrest.
“During interrogation, he confessed that the phones dropped during the kidnapping incident and mentioned others as Mohammed Dengi, Umar Maude Baushe, Abule Yaro, Usman Abubakar and Katafila.
“In the course of investigation, Mohammed Dengi and Abubakar were arrested while three others are still at large. The syndicate collected a ransom of three million naira before the victim was released.
“The three suspects were arraigned before Chief Magistrate Court 1 and re-assigned to Court 7 for prosecution accordingly.
“The two other suspects; Mohammed Umar and Usman Abubakar were involved in a different crime of conspiracy, kidnapping and robbery referred for Police investigation from Magistrate Court, Jebba dated May 2nd, 2024.
“The two suspects were investigated in which Mohammed Umar was found to have called a motorcyclist to convey him from New-Garage Kara to somewhere, and that since then, the motorcyclist couldn’t return home, while the phone of the victim was found with Usman Abubakar.
“Having established a case of kidnapping against the two suspects, they were returned to the Magistrate Court, Jebba on FIR for the offence of Conspiracy, Kidnapping and Robbery.
“Therefore, the five suspects were not of the same case as stated in the video, as three suspects were from Mokwa kidnapping case and two others were from Jebba.
“All the cases were charged to Magistrate Court 1 Minna and Magistrate Court Jebba for prosecution accordingly.
“The Command urges members of the public, most especially anyone who has interest in any matter under Police investigation to verify information and ascertain facts before circulating wrong information that could mislead the society.”
