The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has launched a massive manhunt for Hamisu Wadume, the kidnap kingpin, who escaped when some soldiers killed some policemen at a checkpoint on Ibi-Jalingo in Taraba.
The soldiers had later claimed to have mistaken the policemen for kidnappers, were attached to the 93 Battalion of the Nigerian Army in Taraba State.
The Intelligence Response Team, led by ASP Felix Adolije, were taking handcuffed Wadume to the Command Headquarters in Jalingo.
The three officers – Inspector Mark Ediale, Sergeants Usman Danzumi and Dahiru Musa as well as a civilian, died as a result of gunshot wounds.
Reacting to the incident, the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, said, “Wadume is a millionaire kidnapper arrested by the police but paradoxically treated as a ‘kidnap victim’ by the soldiers and subsequently ‘rescued’ by them. Where is he? Where is the rescued kidnapper?” Mba asked.
On its part, the Nigerian army has insisted on not knowing the whereabouts of Wadume.
It was, however, learnt that police leadership are worried that Wadume might be killed in order to frustrate their investigation into his criminal activities, which informed the massive manhunt for him.
This implies that the kidnap kingpin “may be put down if the military get to him first,” and this, it was learnt, would make it almost impossible for detectives to establish the suspect’s connection to the soldiers who purportedly rescued him from the IRT team after his arrest.”