Police arrest Zamfara councillors in kidnap of colleagues

TRACKING_____Commissioner of Police in Zamfara state, Usman Nagogo, has confirmed the arrest of some councillors over their suspected involvement in the March 4 kidnap of three supervisory councillors of Gummi Local Government Area of the state.

The police had last week confirmed the kidnap of the councillors including Murtala Arzika of Gayari Ward, Lawal AC Milan of Ubandoma Ward and Sahabi Abubakar of Birnin Tudu Ward while on their way to Gusau from Gummi.

Nagogo, while parading some suspected criminal at the police headquarters in Gusau on Wednesday, told journalists that the case of the kidnapped councillors is still under investigation.

He said: “I initially did not want to talk about the kidnap of the councillors because the case is being investigated. We have discovered that the matter has political undertone because of the way the kidnap was executed.

“We discovered that one of the passengers in the vehicle they were travelling in, dropped half way into the trip while the victims were advised not to tell even their family members of where they were travelling to,” he explained.

On the whereabouts of one of the kidnapped councillors, who was said to have escaped from his abductors on the day they were kidnapped, the police chief said that issue too is part of the ongoing investigation since the escapee is also at large.

Also, while parading other suspects before journalists, the police boss said the command has discovered that people from the communities were now sending threat letters to their own communities and posing as bandits to demand for large sums of money.

He said: “Bello Sani and Auwal Hassan were arrested for criminal conspiracy, intimidation and attempt to commit an act of terrorism on February 8 this year when they pasted threat letters on houses in Gyalange Village demanding for N3 million without which they said they will wipe-out the whole village in which they live.

“They were tracked through the contact phone they used and when they were arrested, they confessed to the crime, and this act has now revealed that some of these criminally minded persons live within the community which is why we rely on and appreciate credible information that will lead to the arrest of such bad eggs.”

Similarly, the commissioner displayed the remains of an unknown bandit who was killed in a gun battle with the police on Tuesday, when his gang attempted to attack Maitagwaye Village in Tsafe Local Government Area.

He said the attack was however, repelled by the police who recovered one AK 47 rifle and a round of live ammunition from the slain bandit.