Police arrest ‘killers’ of Kaduna colonel

The police say they have arrested the suspected killers of Samaila Yunusa, a colonel who was found dead after he was kidnapped in Kaduna in March.

Olabisi Kolawole, police spokeswoman, disclosed this in a statement on Wednesday.

She said that the suspects were arrested following painstaking investigation.

“Following discreet, sustained and painstaking intelligence, the inspector general of police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Kaduna state command SIB operatives, smashed a deadly killer gang and arrested four suspects in connection with the kidnapping and subsequent murder of an army officer, Col. Samaila Yunusa, in Kaduna on 27 March, 2016,” Kolawole said.

“Sequel to the kidnapping and killing of the officer, the IGP IRT deployed the Technical and Human Intelligence assets of the force which led to the arrest of a prison warden named Abdullahi Adamu, who is a close associate of one of the prime suspects who was using the Tecno mobile phone stolen from the slain colonel.

“Further investigation led to the arrest of two of the prime suspects, namely: Ibrahim Kabiru ‘m’, 23, (aka uztaz) and Ebele Precious ‘m’, 41 (aka pastor), while the gang leader Emeka Okeke Cyprain ‘m’, 44, and one other member of the syndicate, Chijioke Ugwuanyi, ‘m’, 42 (aka CJ) were later arrested.

“Items recovered by the police from this notorious gang, which specialised in car snatching and truck hijacking in the state and selling same to unsuspecting members of the public, include one AK 47 rifle, two magnum pistols, one Nissan Pathfinder Jeep and documents of six houses located in Anambra state of which Emeka Okeke Cyprian confessed were proceeds of his previous criminal activities.”