The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested one Abubakar Sadiq, the prime suspect in the abduction and killing of a five-year-old boy after obtaining N5 million ransom.
He was identified as a 19-year-old student of Medicine and Surgery at Alhikma University.
The assailants had obtained the ransom from the victim’s father, Dr Suleiman Auwal and one of them allegedly used his share to procure a Mercedes Benz car.
The suspect, who was paraded at the state command headquarters on Thursday, said his gang decided to kill the young boy because he recognised some of them.
“The child we kidnapped lived in the same area where we live. Our intention was just to use him to get ransom, but things went bad when he saw our faces. So one of us suggested that we kill and bury him. After killing him, we buried him beside our house so that nobody will know.
“The Benz you see was bought by one of us (Suleiman Jamilu, one of the kidnappers) with money from the N5 million ransom we got from the doctor. We really didn’t intend to kill the boy, it just happened,” Sadiq said.
A police statement read, “On 09/04/2020, one Dr. Sulaiman Auwal ‘m’ of Ibrahim Bako, behind AYM Shafa Filling Station Bauchi, reported that he received a phone call from an unknown person stating that they had kidnapped his son, one Abubakar Sadiq Suleiman ‘m’ 19yrs old and demanded the sum of ten million naira as ransom.
“Upon receipt of the report, detectives from the Anti Kidnapping Unit swung into action and arrested the following suspects; Muhammed Jibrin ‘m’ AKA Al-amin 19yrs of Ibrahim Bako behind AYM Shafa Filling Station, Bauchi.
“He confessed that on the 04/04/2020, he and one Abdulrahman Sulaiman ‘m’ 29yrs criminally conspired, killed and buried the victim, Abubakar Sadiq Suleiman in their compound, and that they used part of the ransom paid through his account to buy Mercedes E320 4matic at the cost of one million six hundred and fifty thousand naira (N1,650,000), and iPhone mobile phone at the cost of one hundred and fifty-six thousand naira (N156, 000).”