Operatives of the Edo State Police Command have arrested a 52 year old Islamic spiritualist, identified as Jubril Ibrahim and four others over alleged involvement in kidnapping.
The spiritualist and other suspects identified as Ahmadu Suleiman, Mohammed Abubakar, Tukur Adam a.k.a. Dogo, Musa Ibrahim and Iro Ibrahim, were reportedly arrested on August 30, 2026 in Niger State.
The Commissioner of Police, CP, of the Command, Patrick Daaor, said this while parading suspects arrested for various crimes in the state.
Daaor alleged that the suspects had been terrorizing parts of Edo North Senatorial District, particularly the Auchi, Jattu and Okpella axis.
The CP said the spiritualist specialized in preparing charms for suspected kidnappers.
He said the suspects were arrested following the abduction of one Mohammed Tasiu Imokhe and his wife at Jattu, in Etsako West Local Government Area, on August 8, 2026.
The police commissioner said that in the wake of the reports of the development, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit and Violent Crime Response Unit immediately swung into action, taking advantage of technical and actionable intelligence from the Technical Intelligence Unit, TIU, Abuja.
This led to the arrest of Malam Jibril Ibrahim, Mohammed Abubakar, Tukur Adam a.k.a. Dogo, Musa Ibrahim and Iro Ibrahim on 30 August 2026 in Niger State.
The suspects have confessed to the Jattu kidnapping as well as several other kidnapping operations in Edo and Kogi States.
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“Based on information from the suspects, operatives later recovered two fake AK-47 rifles, one pump-action rifle, six magazines and 200 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition from the Okpella forest on 1/9/2026.
“The profiling of the suspects and efforts to arrest other members of the gang are underway,” the statement said.
The spiritualist, Jubril Ibrahim, in an interview denied preparing charms for the suspected kidnappers, saying he only prayed for one of them on the instruction of his mother.
“The almajiri, I gather them and I teach them the Qur’an,” the spiritualist said. So, Ahmadu Suleiman’s mother came to me and told me to pray for her son, that he travels a lot, so I should pray for his safe trip to and from, and that is what I have been doing. I pray for a safe trip for him.”
He, however, admitted to have known that one of the suspects, Suleiman had an AK-47 rifle in his possession.
The 24-year-old Suleiman, on his part, said he was only involved in one operation in Auchi, adding that he works with various kidnapping syndicates across the country before returning to his base in Niger State.
Speaking through an interpreter, Suleiman said: “When we get to the community, we look for a beautiful house and shoot into the air, and while they are scampering for their lives, they run out, and we hold them and take them to the bush, and demand for money.”
He said he got N1 million from the Auchi operation, alleging that it was the only kidnapping operation he had been involved in in the area.
He said he was also involved in other kidnapping operations in Kogi State and other parts of the country, where he received between N500,000 and N700,000.
He denied ever working with any informant, saying they only looked out for fancy cars and buildings when they wanted to carry out a kidnapping operation.