Police apprehend the kidnapper of Afaka students

After 55 days in captivity, the students were released after a ransom of N15 million was paid.

Security agents, however, stormed the Askolaye community in Kaduna South Local Government Area on Sunday after tracking the suspect for weeks, according to sources.

The suspect arrived in the community almost two months ago and rented a house with the intention of enrolling his two stepchildren in an Islamic school, according to a resident familiar with the situation. Security agents detained the suspect and his wife, he said, while community leaders and neighbors who had been summoned for questioning had been released.

Another resident told our correspondent that the suspect’s wife, whose father and husband were murdered by bandits, had no idea her current husband was a criminal who had orchestrated the murders of her late father and husband.

“After murdering her husband, he returned and married her, then adopted her two children, both under the age of seven. All of this was unknown to her until he was apprehended and confessed in front of her during interrogation. He also admitted to being a part of the group that carried out several school kidnappings, including those of Afaka students,” he said.

When officers arrived in the community, they discovered that the suspect’s three-bedroom house on the ring road in Layin Dahiru Bauchi was locked.

Another local told our correspondent that the suspect claimed to be from Ilorin, Kwara State, and that he had relocated his family to enroll them in school.

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“He told us his name is Abubakar; we don’t know if that is his real name, but he was introduced to us by a tailor friend in Badarawa,” he explained. However, the suspect’s tailor friend has now told security agents that their relationship is based on the fabrics he brings to him to sew, as he had no idea the suspect was a bandit.

The Kaduna State Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige, declined to comment on the arrest when contacted, but said the matter was being investigated.