Kidnap kingpin who abducted UBEC chairman dies in gun fight
By Andrew Orolua, Abuja
*Police arrest 7 gang members, recovers 4 AK 47 rifles
A kidnapping kingpin and notorious armed robber, Sumaila Sule has fallen to the superior gun fire of the police on Saturday.
Sule alias SHAHO, male estimated to be in his mid-thirties, recently masterminded the kidnap of the UBEC chairman along the Abuja- Kaduna Road, the police said in a statement.
The deceased suspect who hails from Rijana Village in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna state is one of the most vicious and most wanted kidnappers that has been terrorizing citizens in Kaduna and its environs.
He died in the early hours of May 18 following multiple bullet wounds he sustained during a deadly shootout with police operatives attached to ‘Operation Puff Adder’.
The shootout took place in the evening of May 17, at the outskirts of Rijana Village.
According to the statement, police operatives in line with the mandate of ‘Operation Puff Adder’ were carrying out routine surveillance and raid of suspected criminal hide-outs when they suddenly came under gun fire attack from a heavily armed criminal gang.
“The police team fought back gallantly, repelling the attack and eventually bringing gang leader down, whilst his gang members fled. The suspect was rushed to hospital where he eventually died the next day,” police said.
Meanwhile, acting on information elicited from the suspect before his death, police operatives between May18 – 19 carried out sweeping follow-up operations at different target locations.
The coordinated operations led to the arrest of four other members of the kidnap gang and the recovery of three AK 47 rifles. The arrested gang members include, Musa Hassan (26 yrs); Yau Umar (25 yrs); Umar Musa (22 yrs) and Muhammad Sani, 28 years, all males and natives of Rijiana Village.
The late kidnap kingpin and his gang members, the statement added have been on the radar of the intelligence community for a while, as they have been implicated in several high level kidnappings and other heinous crimes along Kaduna-Abuja Road and beyond.
In a similar vein, a combined team of ‘Operation Puff Adder’ operatives have arrested another set of kidnappers who have been terrorizing citizens at Mubi axis of Adamawa state. One AK 47 rifle and 26 rounds of live ammunition were recovered from the gang.
The suspects arrested are Umaru Ibrahim, native of Yadi Buni, Yobe state; Abdul Maina, native of Maiha Adamawa state and Mohammed Abubakar, native of Buni Yadi Yobe state.
The suspects have all confessed to participating in numerous kidnapping and armed robbery operations within Adamawa state, including the kidnap and collection of a ransom of N7 million from one Mallam Abdulahi Umoru of Hong Local Government Area.
Investigations into these cases are on-going, while efforts aimed at arresting other members of the gangs still at large are being intensified, the police added.
