Police Arrest Suspected Abuja-Kaduna Train Attack Mastermind

The Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has arrested the suspected mastermind of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack Ibrahim Abdullahi also known as Mande.

The attack happened in March 2022 but at a news conference in Kaduna on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer Olumuyiwa Adejobi said the suspect was arrested at the Abuja-Kaduna Road flyover by Rido Junction.

According to him, Mande confessed to being the leader of a kidnap syndicate terrorising Kaduna-Abuja highway.

He said that the suspect had participated in various kidnapping incidents including the kidnapping incident at Green Field University in addition to participating in almost all the kidnappings along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

The Force PRO further disclosed that police operatives also arrested another notorious kidnap gang leader who masterminded the September 2023 attack on the Saint Raphael Catholic Church at Fadan Kamantan where a seminarian and the church were burnt to ashes.

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“Regrettably, the suspects had already set ablaze the priest’s residence before the arrival of the authorities. Despite the valiant efforts of operatives, one seminarian Stephen Naaman tragically lost his life in the inferno, and property worth millions of Naira, including a Honda vehicle and a motorcycle, were consumed by the fire,” he said.

“However, due to diligence and tireless pursuit of the issue by the police, on the 22nd of March, 2024 one Yakubu Saidu, the mastermind and leader of the notorious kidnapping gang, was apprehended and he confessed to his involvement in the heinous crime”.