Policeman rejects N1m bribe to release suspect arrested for kidnapping

Akinwande Soji-Ojo

The Kano State Police Command has arrested one Alhaji Bamuwa Umaru, 62, in Sabon Gari Local Government Area of Kaduna State for offering N1 million bribe to a police officer to secure the release of one Yusuf Ibrahim arrested for kidnapping.

The command’s spokesperson, SP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, disclosed this in a statement, on Tuesday. 

He said the man approached the officer in charge of the state anti-kidnapping squad, SP Aliyu Mohammed, and offered him the bribe to secure the release of 27-year-old Ibrahim, of Danjibga Village, Tsafe Local Government Area, Zamfara State. 

“The suspected kidnapper was arrested by a team of Operation Restore Peace led by CSP Usman Abdullahi, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Rijiyar Zaki Division, Kano, after he was identified by a driver they kidnapped along Funtuwa-Gusau Road, and collected the sum of N500,000 as ransom before his release

“On preliminary investigation, the suspect confessed to the crime and further confessed to having participated in a series of kidnappings at Sheme, Yankara, Faskari and Kucheri villages in Katsina and Zamfara States, respectively,” Kiyawa said.

According to Kiyawa, Ibrahim further confessed that their syndicate members killed about 10 of their kidnapped victims and that he alone killed two of the victims.  

The police image maker added that both the kidnapper and the man that offered the money would be charged to court upon completion of investigation.