TheCable

The police say they have killed the suspected mastermind of the kidnap of Muhammed Mahmood, board chairman, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC ) and his daughter.

Mahmood and his daughter were kidnapped on April 29 around Katari village, along the Kaduna-Abuja highway and later released.

In a statement on Sunday, Frank Mba, force spokesman, said the suspect was killed during a shootout with operatives attached to “Operation Puff Adder” on Saturday.

“A kidnapping kingpin and notorious armed robber, who recently masterminded the kidnap of the UBEC Chairman along Abuja- Kaduna road is dead,” Mba said.

Mba said the suspect, Sumaila Sule, alias SHAHO, who was in his mid thirties, was a native of Rijana village in Kachia local government area of Kaduna state.

Some of the arrested suspects

He explained that the suspect died following multiple bullet wounds he sustained during the shootout.

The spokesman said the operatives were carrying out routine surveillance when they came under attack from a heavily armed criminal gang on the outskirts of Rijana village.

Mba added that the police have also arrested four members of Sule’s gang during a follow-up operations.

According to him, the suspects are: Musa Hassan,26, Yau Umar, 25, Umar Musa, 22 and Muhammad Sani, 28 all natives of Rijiana village.

Mba said Sule and his gang members who have been involved in several heinous crimes along the Abuja- Kaduna highway, have been on the radar of the intelligence community for a while.

Mba said Mohammed Adamu, acting inspector-general of police, has reassured Nigerians that the war against crimes and criminality would soon be won.

He called for continuous support for the police and other law enforcement agencies, adding that the security agencies would not rest on their oars till normalcy was restored in every part of the country.