How We Kidnapped American, Canadian Expatriates In Kaduna —Suspects

By Samuel Ekorhi

Two members of a notorious Fulani kidnap gang who took part in the 2018 kidnap of two American and two Canadian expatriates, on a visit to Kaduna State and the subsequent killing of two policemen providing security escort for the expatriates, have been arrested by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team, IRT.

Vanguard gathered that four other members of the gang, including the leader of the gang, identified simply as Dogo, were gunned down when operatives of the IRT stormed the gang’s camp located inside a deep forest in Kuiere near Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna State. 

Sources disclosed that the IRT operatives, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, trailed the suspects, who were also known to the local herdsmen, into the Kagarko forest and had an exchange of gunfire with the bandits when they approached the camp. Two members of the gang, Abdulmimini Adamu and Usmana Abdulahi, managed to escape from the scene but they were later rearrested by the IRT operatives in Kano and Kaduna States. 

It was gathered that the operatives trailed Adamu to Kano State through the information they gathered from his camp in Kuiere area of Kaduna State while Abdulahi was apprehended in his farm, where he had gone to hide to evade police arrest. 

The suspects, in their interviews narrated their roles in the kidnap.

While 20-year-old, Adamu, a native of Igabi Local Government in Kaduna State who was married with a child said he took active part in the kidnap of the expatriates and the killing of the policemen, Abdulahi, said he was the person supplying food to the kidnappers.

Adamu said: “I am a farmer and a cattle rearer, my boss, Dogo, got me involved in kidnapping. In my first operation we killed two policemen and took away their rifles. We eventually kidnapped four white people, two of them were Americans but I don’t know the nationality of the other two. We attacked the expatriates along Jere road in Southern Kaduna area of the state and it was an informant who gave us the information about the job.

“Nine of us took part in the attack; five of us were armed with Ak-47 rifles, while four others were holding sticks. I was holding a stick, while the people who had guns were in front. When the vehicle conveying the expatriates got to where we were, my boss and those with guns started firing and they forced the vehicle to a stop. We then killed the policemen providing escorts to the expatriates on the spot before taking the expatriates into the bush. We trekked all through the night until we got to the camp at Kuiere in Kaduna State. 

“The expatriates spent three days with us in the camp and we fed them with rice and beans. They ate three times daily and we also gave them bottled water to drink. One of our gang members who understood English language very well contacted the people who paid the ransom. I don’t know the amount he demanded, but I suspected it to be around N100 million. I don’t know the exact amount that was paid but I got N5 million as my share after the ransom was paid. I bought some cows with my share of the ransom and they are presently with my brother in my village. I was arrested 10 days after the police burst our camp and I fled to Kano State. I was in Kano State to visit my friend and I didn’t know that the police were on my trail, I was shocked they caught me in my friend’s house.” 

In his own confession, 26-year-old Usmana Abdulahi said: “I am married with two wives. I am from Kagaroko Local Government Area of Kaduna State. I am a farmer and I am also into cattle rearing. I am not a kidnapper but I supplied food items and cooking ingredients to the kidnapper in their camp when they kidnapped the white people. The first time I took the food to the camp, they didn’t allow me to see the white people. They stopped me at a distance and took the food items from me. On the second day when I took the food items to the kidnappers, they brought out two of the white people and took them to a section of the camp where they could make calls and contact their relatives for the ransom. It was Abdulmumu who contacted me to supply food for the kidnappers and he was the only member of the gang who knows me and he gave me N1million as my share after the ransom was paid.