The fight against insecurity in the nation’s seat of power has again yielded results. This time, the country’s police said some wanted kidnappers have been apprehended and their camps demolished in Abuja.
These remarkable exploits, according to Force Spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi, occurred on Friday.
“In the early hours of February 9, 2024, around 2.40 am, operatives of the Nigeria Police Force Intelligence Bureau – Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT), acting on intelligence, successfully attacked, neutralised and eliminated many notorious kidnappers including the kidnapping kingpin identified as Musa Wada (Sabo) Magaji, in an operation conducted around Mpape, Abuja,” according to a statement released on Saturday.
“The team also destroyed the camps of the dreaded kidnappers who have been thorns in the flesh of Abuja residents in recent times.”
Police operatives engaged the criminals in a 30-minute gun battle, the statement added, with several of the kidnappers “fatally injured, while one of the police operatives sustained bullet wounds”.
He said the development comes just on the heels of the “neutralization of Abubakar Wada, an associate of Musa Wada, on February 8, 2024, who served as a lead to their hideout.
“Musa Wada, aka Sabo, was the mastermind behind numerous kidnappings for ransom activities plaguing areas including Mpape and Bwari in the FCT; Kagarko in Kaduna; Masaka, and Nukun Village in Nasarawa State. His modus operandi involved identifying wealthy targets and mobilizing armed gangs to carry out abductions for ransom”.
While noting that the recent operation was carried out by the FIB-IRT “through a surprise assault,” items recovered from the hideout include mobile phones, multiple SIM cards, charms, and hard drugs”.
“Efforts are on to recover additional arms and ammunition and other equipment they use for their nefarious operations,” the police added, reiterating its commitment to bringing perpetrators of “heinous crimes to justice, against all odds”.
‘They Will See Fire For Fire’
This most recent development will be good news to Abuja residents who have been living in fear in the past months owing to the activities of kidnappers and other criminals. Several persons have been abducted while others were killed as insecurity took a worrisome dimension in Nigeria’s political capital.
But the nation’s police authorities in the wake of the poor security situation, assured residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of dealing with it.
The FCT Minister Nyesom Wike had also vowed to liaise with relevant authorities to make the area uncomfortable for criminals.
“I have assured you before that we are going to take this fight against security headlong. Today, you can see that we are not letting them go. I told you all these criminals will run away,” Wike, a former Rivers State governor, added.
“We will make sure they don’t sleep again. If they say we will not sleep, they too will not sleep. A child that says the mother will not sleep, will he sleep? So, we are taking the war to them head-on. Let them wait for us, they will see fire for fire.”