According to the Niger Police Command, three individuals who pretended to be members of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission have been apprehended for kidnapping and robbing Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University students in Lapai.  

Two informants who helped and abetted the operation were also taken into custody, according to a statement released by the Command's spokesperson, Wasiu Abiodun, in Minna on Friday.  

According to Abiodun, at approximately 8:00 p.m. on May 13, the police were notified that four suspects had broken into the students' off-campus lodging and taken two students hostage while posing as EFCC agents.  

He claimed that the students were taken away by the perpetrators in a Toyota Corolla registered under the license plate ABJ 245 CU.

According to Abiodun, police officers from the Lapai Division mobilised right away and followed the car to Suleja Road near Kwakuti, where the suspects were taken into custody.  

He identified the suspects as Abduljallid Tanko, 33, of Karu, Hyelda Aliyu, 28 of Nyanya, and Emmanuel Linus, 30 of Deidei, all from Abuja.

“The suspects were arrested with the said vehicle, but unfortunately, one Alfa James among the suspects escaped from the scene.

“During interrogation, they confessed that they were invited by their informants, as this is their means of livelihood.

“They entered one of the student’s room with three electric tasers held as guns, collected five phones and abducted two persons,” Abiodun explained.

He claimed that before to their detention, the accused had asked the pupils for N10 million and then negotiated a deal of N500,000.

“They confessed further that the ID cards used were designed at a shop in Nyanya, Abuja bearing the same identification number 1069,” he said.

Additionally, the spokesperson identified their informant collaborators as Hamisu Adamu and Mohammed Hassan, both of whom were from Angwan-Hausa in Lapai.  

He clarified that because the informants knew one another in Paiko, they provided information about the students to Emmanuel Linus, one of the accused.  

According to Abiodun, Emmanuel was convicted two years prior and was a retired soldier with criminal convictions.  He stated that the 

State Criminal inquiry Department was conducting more inquiry and that they will face charges in court for prosecution as soon as the investigation was complete.

Source