Teenager kidnaps 5-year-old cousin, demands N6m ransom

The Gombe State Police Command said at the weekend that its Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) arrested an 18-year-old girl for allegedly kidnapping the five-year-old daughter of her uncle. The suspect, Hadiza Babayo of Lafiya Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, who was living with her uncle in Gombe metropolis, allegedly connived with one Bala […]

The Gombe State Police Command said at the weekend that its Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) arrested an 18-year-old girl for allegedly kidnapping the five-year-old daughter of her uncle.

The suspect, Hadiza Babayo of Lafiya Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, who was living with her uncle in Gombe metropolis, allegedly connived with one Bala Shuaibu of the same address and abducted the victim from school last Monday.

Parading the suspects before newsmen at the weekend, the command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Obed Mary Malum, said the suspects kept the girl at a hotel in Nayi-Nawa area of Gombe metropolis and demanded N6 million as ransom from her father.

She added that following credible intelligence, Hadiza was arrested on Tuesday and she confessed to the crime during interrogation, which led to the arrest of the other suspect by the SARS operatives.

“After we received report of the kidnapping, the SARS operatives condoned the hotel and rescued the victim unhurt. No ransom was paid. They also apprehended the other suspect, Bala Shuaibu,” she said.

She added that investigation is on-going and that the suspects would be charged to court soon.

In an interview with newsmen, Hadiza, who is a daughter to elder brother of the victim’s father, Alhaji Modibbo Muhammad, confessed to conniving with her friend to abduct the little girl.

According to her, on the said date, she wore a niqab, then went to the school and picked up the girl from where they proceeded to the hotel. She said after that they placed a call to her uncle and demanded the N6m ransom.

In another development, the command said it arrested one Sanusi Usman, 25, of Jekadafari area of Gombe metropolis over rape of a 14-year-old girl. He was alleged to have lured her into his house where he sexually molested her.

Also, one Abdulmumuni Saidu, a cattle herder was arrested over rape of a 15-year-old girl, after he allegedly followed her into a bush in Tulmi village of Akko Local Government Area, where she went to get broom.