Plateau: Islamic teacher fingered in kidnapping

The Police Commissioner, Plateau State Command, CP Adekunle Oladunjoye, on Monday, paraded suspected criminals of various degree, among which are kidnap cases involving child theft.

In one of the kidnap cases paraded before Journalists, CP Oladunjoye, revealed that an Islamic Arabic teacher was involved in a kidnap of a 3-year- old boy, Ahmed Hanif Abubakar.

According to Mr. Oladunjoye, “one Mrs. Shafiatu Saidu Bello, of Naraguta village in Jos North LGA, sent her 3-year-old son, Ahmed Abubakar, to the gate of their residence to buy Soya-Cake, popularly known as “awara”. As the little boy got to the gate, one Umar Isah, lured him away with the pretense that he was going to buy him something, but took him away to Bauchi State, where he handed him over to an Islamic/Arabic teacher, Jibrin Musa.

“He after wards removed the pair of trousers the little boy was wearing and left him in the custody of the Islamic Arabic teacher and came back to Jos. He then wrote on a piece of paper that reads, “Nigeria Blood and Blood Group Kaduna Mafia, about your child call 08081012692 now, now”, the CP said.

The CP continued: “The kidnappers, however, sent the note and the trousers to the parents of the little boy through another small boy. When he was contacted by the boy’s parents, he demanded a ransom of 250,000 naira, which he said must be brought to Zaria in Kaduna State. He was however, intercepted by the Police during the process of collecting the ransom.

“Upon his arrest, he consequently took the Police to where the little boy was rescued and the said Islamic/Arabic teacher arrested.”

In a related development, four ladies between the ages of 16, 24, 29 and 30 were arrested in connection with an attempt to sell a six weeks old baby.

The mother of the child, Rukayya Talatu Abdullah, age 16 years, is in the business of giving birth and selling out. In this case, her friends who aids her trade, outsmarts her by stealing her baby, which made her to raise alarm. According to the mother of the child, “it was not yet time for us to sell the baby that was why I cried out”, she told Daily Times.

However, during Police investigation, the baby was recovered from her partners in crime as all the four suspects are now in police custody.