The Police Command in Sokoto State says it has arrested no fewer than nine persons, including seven alleged kidnappers and one rapist.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Mr Ibrahim Kaoje, told newsmen on Thursday in Sokoto that the suspects were apprehended at various locations in the state.
Kaoje said that one of the suspects, Isiya Zubairu, 20, of Illela Local Government Area, was arrested for allegedly having forceful sexual intercourse with a six-year-old girl in their family house.
He also said that two of the suspected kidnapers were arrested after abducting a father and his daughter at Rakaka Magaji village in Rabah Local Government Area of the state.
“On receipt of the information, men on Operation Puff Adder in conjunction with local vigilantes, trailed the hoodlums, arrested six of them and recovered one motorcycle,” the commissioner said.
He added that another suspected kidnapper, Maude Salihu from Yankara village in Katsina State, was arrested in Binji Local Government Area of Sokoto.
According to him, Salihu, who was arrested with a sum of N417, 030, two mobile phones, four sim cards and assorted charms, confessed to being a member of a gang operating in Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto axis.
Kaoje said that the suspect admitted that the money was his share of ransom paid after a successful operation.
He disclosed that the police also arrested an armed robbery suspect, Bashiru Abdullahi, one year after his gang attacked and robbed residents of Dankade village in Rabah Local Government Area.
The commissioner, therefore, appealed to parents to monitor their children’s movement and their associates as cases of rape were at an alarming rate in the state.
