FCT Police Commissioner Olatunji Disu
by Deborah Nnamdi
Operatives of the anti-kidnapping unit within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command have killed eight suspected bandits and taken six others into custody.
The Commissioner of Police for the FCT, CP Olatunji Disu confirmed the development while parading suspects at the command headquarters in Abuja on Monday.
He said the operatives also arrested six additional individuals in the Kweri forest, which borders Kaduna and Gauraka in Niger/FCT.
Disu noted that the eight bandits were killed during an exchange of gunfire with the police operatives, noting that some members of the armed group managed to escape with gunshot wounds.
The individuals taken into custody have been identified as Abdulrahman Giwa, Baba Hassan, Mohammed Dahiru, Abubakar Bature, also known as Dare, Abubakar Kadiri, referred to as Dayi, and Kabiru Ibrahim.
According to CP Disu, the six apprehended suspects were affiliated with a kidnapping and banditry gang, which was previously led by a now-deceased individual responsible for numerous kidnappings in the FCT and the surrounding regions of Niger and Kaduna.
“During the operations involving the assault of the strongholds of the bandits in Kweri and Gauraka forests, Mallam and eight other suspects were neutralized after an intense exchange of gunfire,” the CP said.
The Police Commissioner noted that two operatives of the anti-kidnapping team sustained gunshot wounds and were both undergoing treatment in the hospital.
Disu further said that intelligence had revealed that the kidnap gangs kept their hostages in various locations in Gidan Dogo Forest in Kaduna, Gauraka Forest in Niger, Kweri Forest and Kachia Forest in Kaduna.
