Operatives of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command have killed three notorious kidnap kingpins in a gun battle, rescued victims and recorded major breakthroughs against robbery and drug syndicates in Abuja.
The Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, CP Ajao Adewale, disclosed this while briefing journalists on Friday at the Command headquarters.
Adewale described the operations as proof of the police’s resilience, strong inter-agency collaboration, and community support.
According to the police boss, operatives stormed a kidnapper’s hideout in Zinda Forest near the Nigerian Army Estate, Kurudu, on September 18, engaging the gang in a fierce shootout.
The gang leader, Abdullahi Umar alias Duna, and his lieutenants, Buba Ahmadi (Killer) and Habi Sule alias Mai-Kudi, were killed.
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Recovered items included two AK-49 rifles, magazines loaded with seven rounds of ammunition, ATM cards, phones, charms, and ₦10,000 cash.
Investigations linked the gang to multiple abductions in Guzape, Karu, Kurudu, and parts of Nasarawa. Their plot to abduct a resident of Federal Housing Estate, Karu, was foiled by the raid.
The CP also recounted that on September 15, gunmen attacked Kpobi and Kpaduma 3 villages in Guzape, killing a vigilante, Bako Pwaza, and injuring two others.
Their attempt to abduct two women was thwarted by a swift police response.
Similarly, on September 17, the same gang abducted Nafiu Idris, a staff of the FCTA Department of Urban Affairs, but joint security forces tracked and disrupted the criminals’ operations.
The Command also intensified its crackdown on drug cartels, arresting 11 suspected dealers in raids across Abuja and recovering 68 bags of cannabis and other narcotics.
In anti-robbery operations, three “one-chance” operators, Ahmed Mohammed, Ashafa Ali, and Mohammed Lamido Jabir, were arrested for robbing Kelvin Okorie of ₦2.7 million in April. Police recovered three vehicles and stolen items linked to the gang.
Across other operations, the Command seized seven firearms, recovered 18 stolen vehicles and trucks, and arrested nine suspects for vehicle theft.
CP Adewale paid tribute to fallen operatives, mourning vigilante Bako Pwaza, whom he described as “a hero who paid the ultimate price in the service of his community.”
He assured residents that intelligence-driven patrols and joint operations with the military, DSS, hunters and vigilantes will continue to dislodge criminal camps in the territory.
“Policing is most effective when communities partner with law enforcement. We cannot and will not allow the reckless acts of a few to endanger the safety, dignity, and well-being of millions of residents and visitors in the FCT,” Adewale said.
Recall that in August, a combined team of policemen from Benue and Enugu States arrested a suspected kidnap gang leader, identified as Yusuf Muhamed, in Orokam, Ogbadibo Local Government Area of Benue State.
Residents said the suspect and his group had been terrorising several communities in the local government, a situation that recently prompted the council chairman to impose a curfew in the area.
One of the residents, Mike Agbo, confirmed that Muhamed and some members of his gang were apprehended earlier in the week during a coordinated security operation.
