The Commissioner of Police in Zamfara State, Mr 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.
The CP, while parading some suspected criminals at the Police Command Headquarters in Gusau, on Wednesday, told journalists that the case of the kidnapped councilors was 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 on the trip while the victims were advised not to tell even their family members of where they were travelling to,” he explained.
On the whereabout of one of the kidnapped councillors, who was said to have escaped from his abductors on the day they were kidnapped, Nagogo said, that issue too was 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 had 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 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 wipeout 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,” he said.
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.
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.
