- The state Commissioner of Police, Ali Dabigi, commended the officers involved in the arrests and investigations and said the suspects will be prosecuted
The police have arrested several men suspected of robbing hotels in the Barnawa, Sabon Tasha, and Karji areas of Kaduna metropolitan.
State police spokesperson Mansir Hassan reported that the suspects were apprehended at around 3 a.m. on May 8, with guns, knives, and machetes found in their possession. A patrol team from the Unguwan Rimi Division initially intercepted three suspects—Khalid Lawal, Abdulhamid Zubairu, and Musa Yusuf—along the Yakowa Expressway, who confessed to returning from a robbery operation.
Further investigation by the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) led to the arrest of additional suspects: Aminu Aliyu (aka Bosho), Idris Ibrahim, Musa Muhammad, Abubakar Lawal (aka Dan Master), and Alhassan Musa.
“They targeted several hotels within the metropolis, including ABELLO, GEOMERRY, HARMONY, and APPLE GATE HOTEL. They attacked the lodgers and staff, robbing them of valuable items such as two motor vehicles (Peugeot 206 and 307), mobile phones, and computers.
“In one particularly violent incident, the gang severed the right hand of a victim,” he said.
The spokesperson said mobile phones and computers were recovered from the suspects, but the two cars had not been found.
He said the suspects purchasing stolen phones from them were also arrested.
They are Abubakar Yahaya, Abdullahi Abubakar, Muhammad Yusuf, and Muhammad Abdulkadir Dada. He said Mr Dada specialised in unlocking phones and altering their IMEI numbers to render them untraceable.
The state Commissioner of Police, Ali Dabigi, commended the officers involved in the arrests and investigations and said the suspects will be prosecuted.