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The Ekiti State Police Command has arrested eight suspected members of a kidnapping cartel involved in the abduction of five pupils, three teachers, and a driver from the Apostolic Faith School in the state.
The kidnappers took the victims a few weeks ago while returning from Eporo-Ekiti and released them last Sunday after spending six days in captivity.
According to the state's Police Public Relations Officer, Abutu Sunday, the arrests came after the police received credible intelligence about armed men planning to kidnap expatriates at a dairy farm in Ikun Ekiti.
Police operatives mobilized to the farm and arrested one Abubakar Aliyu, who was attempting to spy on the expatriates' location. During the operation, the police had shot a member of the group, identified as Ayuba dead in a gun duel with the police while attempting to resist arrest.
The police retrieved the phone that the arrested suspect, Abubakar Aliyu used to demand ransom for the release of the abducted pupils and teachers.
Following Aliyu's arrest, Sumo Karami, the leader of the kidnapping gang, sent two vigilante members, Saliu Ibrahim and Umaru Saliu, to secure Aliyu's bail from police custody. The police force also arrested the vigilante members, going through Oro-Ago town, where they also apprehended the leader of the Miyetti Allah vigilante in Oro-Ago, Kwara state, Mohammed Bashiru.
Bashiru, who is a relative of Sumo Karami, confessed during interrogation to being connected to the kidnapping gang. He revealed that Aliyu was a member of their gang, known for terrorizing and kidnapping citizens with AK47 rifles and other dangerous weapons.
Further investigations linked Sumo Karami and his gang to the kidnapping of the pupils and teachers in Emure-Ekiti on January 29, 2024. The police also arrested two other gang members, Yahaya Jubril and Usman Garba, in Owo forest, Ondo State.
