Gombe teen girl kidnaps 5-year-old cousin, demands N6m ransom

Hadiza Babayo, 18, from Lafiya Lamurde Local Government Area of Adamawa State, who lives with her uncle in Gombe metropolis, has been arrested for allegedly conniving with one Bala Shuaibu of the same address to abduct her five-year-old counsin from school last Monday.

The suspects were arrested by Special Anti Robbery Squad of the Gombe State Police Command.

The command’s Police Public Relations Officer, SP Obed Mary Malum, who paraded the suspects at the weekend, said they kept the girl at a hotel in Nayi-Nawa area of Gombe metropolis and demanded N6 million as ransom from her father.

According to her, following credible intelligence, Hadiza was arrested on Tuesday and she confessed to the crime during interrogation, which led to the arrest of the other suspect by the SARS operatives.

“After we received report of the kidnapping, the SARS operatives condoned the hotel and rescued the victim unhurt. No ransom was paid. They also apprehended the other suspect, Bala Shuaibu,” she said.

Malum added that investigation is on-going and that the suspects would be charged to court soon.

In an interview with newsmen, Hadiza, who is a daughter to elder brother of the victim’s father, Alhaji Modibbo Muhammad, confessed to conniving with her friend to abduct the little girl.

She said she wore a niqab on the day, then went to the school and picked up the girl from where they proceeded to the hotel. She said after that they placed a call to her uncle and demanded the N6m ransom.

Similarly, the police command said it also arrested one Sanusi Usman, 25, of Jekadafari area of Gombe metropolis over rape of a 14-year-old girl.

He was alleged to have lured the victim into his house where he had carnal knowledge of her.

The command also arrested one Abdulmumuni Saidu, a cattle herder over rape of a 15-year-old girl, after he allegedly followed her into a bush in Tulmi village of Akko Local Government Area, where she went to fetch a broom.