The Nigeria Police Force, Monday, paraded 81 members of smashed armed gangs of alleged kidnappers and cyber fraudsters otherwise known as Yahoo boys.
Parading the suspects, at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) Headquarters in Abuja, the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, said the suspects had been indicted for murder, kidnapping following investigations by the Special Tactical Squad (STS) and the IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT).
He said one of the gangs, the Shaiub Dan Kaduna gang, specialises in kidnapping on the Abuja – Kaduna axis, noting that on August 11, 2019, the gang ambushed IRT team and killed four members of the team.
The spokesperson said majority of the gang members had been arrested, just as the gang leader of the gang, Shaiub Dan Kaduna, was killed during an exchange of gun fire on October 3.
He said three AK 47 riffles allegedly stolen from the police officers during the attack were recovered from the members of the gang at the time of their arrest.
Mba said another gang led by one Rufai Muhammed, 25, hatched plans to kidnap a Sokoto businessman Alhaji Tukur Subaru.
He said the gang, made up of convicts who had been prosecuted by the police, regrouped after leaving custody and kidnapped the business man from his residence at Subaru Area of Sokoto state and collected ransom running into millions.
He said the gang members including: Rufai Muhammed, 25; Isah abdullahi aka Dan Musa Gari, 25; Abdulrashid Labwran, 26; Abba Zayynu, 22; Ayuba Awwalu aka Alaramma, 35;
Ana’s Rabiu Ibrahim, 27; were arrested in Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina and Kano states.
Mba said N10.1 million, part of ransom collected from Alhaji Subaru, was recovered from the suspects.
Similarly, members of another kidnap gang that reportedly attacked and killed a Police Inspector Patrick Yohanna attached to Special Protection Unit (SPU) along Abuja – Kaduna Expressway on August 26, 2019, were also arrested.
They are: Ibrahim Alhaji Isa aka Dauji, 31; Bashir Lawal aka Shago or Apapata, 35; Musa Isah, 23; Ya’u Limits, 30; Alhaji Yusuh Idris, 50; and Adamu Yusuf aka Ado.
Others are: 28; Lawal Yusuf, 25; and Abubakar Alhaji Sank, 30; Umar Safiyanu, 20; Saleh Sule aka Yelli, 25; and Auwalu Usman 39.
He said the police teams also busted a home, located in Lugbe, a suburb of the FCT, where 10 Yahoo Yahoo were arrested, including a 19-year-old Ghanaian student of Akara Academy, Abdulrahman Usman.
The spokesperson disclosed that the gang led by a graduate of BSC Micro Biology from Ambrose Alli University and MBA in Business Administration from UNIBEN, Ernest Ebohon, 44, doubled as cyber crime skill acquisition centre, offering tutorial, noting that 10 laptops were recovered from them.
Speaking to journalists, Ebohon, who confessed to cyber fraud, said he usually posed as a medical doctor with the United Nation and seeks out women on dating sites.
According to him, he builds relationship with women and eventually ask them to invite him for vacation but they have to apply to the UN to grant them permission to travel out on the condition that they would pay for life and health insurance.
The father of two, who claimed he introduced to cyber fraud by a friend simply identified as Endurance in June this year when he lost his job, said the payment were in two categories $1,050 for 30 days vacation and $3,000 for 60 days.
