By Chimezie Godfrey
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has dismantled a notorious “one chance” kidnapping and armed robbery syndicate, recovered ₦8.25 million paid as ransom for an abducted woman, and arrested more than 560 suspects in a series of anti-crime operations across Abuja.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, CP Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi, said the operations also led to the arrest of suspected kidnappers, an alleged ammunition supplier to bandits, and the recovery of firearms, ammunition, illicit drugs and other incriminating exhibits.
Sanusi said operatives of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU) launched a manhunt after receiving a distress call on June 29 over the abduction of a young woman in Maitama.
According to him, the kidnappers demanded ₦20 million but eventually collected ₦8.25 million before releasing the victim on July 3 after taking her to Kwan-Kwashe village in neighbouring Niger State.
”Our digital tracking revealed that they had taken the victim out of the FCT and kept her in Kwan-Kwashe Village in Niger State. We remained on their trail until six members of the gang were arrested in Suleja on July 5,” the police commissioner said.
He identified the suspects as Ifeoma Nnamchi, alleged gang leader; Peter Rasheed Onwunumah; Olanipekun Anuoluwa; Jemimah Monday; Gabriel Nnamchi, 14; and Stanley Nnamchi, 17.
Police recovered the entire ₦8.25 million ransom, two operational vehicles, a cutlass, seven AirPods, jewellery suspected to have been stolen from previous victims, five mobile phones and a laptop.
Investigations, according to the commissioner, revealed that the alleged gang leader and one of her accomplices had previously been arrested by the FCT Police Command in 2022 and 2019 respectively for similar offences.
He added that the syndicate confessed to abducting and robbing at least five women since 2024, collecting ransoms totalling ₦12.8 million.
In another operation, Sanusi said police operatives arrested four suspected kidnappers and logistics suppliers to bandits during clearance operations around Kwali, Abaji and Kuje Area Councils.
The suspects—Bello Abdullahi, Shuaibu Iliya, Idris Abubakar and Misbahu Isa—were arrested after security operatives dislodged criminal hideouts in the Nago Forest.
According to the commissioner, one of the suspects, Misbahu Isa, led investigators to Zuba Motor Park, where officers recovered 42 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition concealed inside his Volkswagen Golf vehicle.
Investigations further revealed that Isa allegedly supplied ammunition to kidnappers and bandits operating in Niger, Kaduna and Kogi states.
”Most recently, he supplied over 20,000 rounds of live ammunition to wanted bandits and kidnappers and received ₦3 million as payment,” Sanusi alleged.
Other exhibits recovered included codeine syrup, cannabis, tramadol tablets, cash, a magazine loaded with six rounds of live ammunition, a mobile phone and other items.
The police commissioner also disclosed that intelligence-led raids on identified criminal black spots across the Federal Capital Territory resulted in the arrest of 560 suspects within the past week.
Among exhibits recovered during the raids were a locally fabricated pistol, a locally made AK-47 rifle and three rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Sanusi vowed that the Command would sustain its offensive against criminal networks across the FCT.
”The FCT Police Command will not rest on its oars until these criminal elements are flushed out of the Federal Capital Territory,” he said.
He urged residents to continue providing timely and credible intelligence to assist security agencies in combating crime and safeguarding lives and property across the nation’s capital.