The Police at Force Headquarters, Abuja, made an official statement yesterday, informing the public that the coordinated efforts of FIB and IRT (Intelligence Response Team) have successfully dismantled the criminal syndicate responsible for the attack on Apostle Johnson Suleiman‘s convoy.
During the operation, two members of the gang lost their lives, and another was arrested.
A stark reminder of the events that occurred on October 21, 2022, along the Benin-Auchi road, serves as a testament to the fatal attack on Suleiman’s convoy. Tragically, the incident claimed the lives of six individuals, including three police personnel, while the perpetrators managed to abscond with their service rifles.
Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Muyiwa Adejobi, who revealed this at IRT headquarters in Abuja, while parading the suspects arrested, said: ‘Operatives of FIB-IRT on the trail of the assailants apprehended one Yusuf Isah, a native of Okene, Kogi State, and a plumber, at AgbaraOluwa Phase 2, Ijoka, Akure, Ondo State, and recovered five Ak-47 rifles, two K2 Assault rifles, 180 live ammunition and four suspected IEDs found in his apartment.’
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‘Investigations revealed that the suspect was part of the 7-man gang responsible for the attack on the convoy of the Apostle and some of the rifles found in his possession were, in fact, rifles snatched from the three police officers killed during the October 21, 2022 attack.’
‘The suspect confessed he joined the vicious gang in 2021, after he was freed from Olokuta Prisons, where he was on remand since 2019 for involvement in armed robbery.’
‘The group specialised in kidnapping for ransom, and has carried out about four kidnapping operations between 2021 and 2023, including the attack on the convoy of the Apostle, before the gang was eventually busted by the Police.’
‘Two members of the 7-man gang were gunned-down in separate encounters with the Police. The suspect confessed that the gang was responsible for the kidnap of a popular oil dealer at Jattu, Auchi, in 2022, where they obtained a ransom of about N70 million before his release.’
‘The gang equally carried out the kidnap of a businessman along Benin-Agbor express road in 2022 and collected N20 million as ransom from the victim’s family.’
‘Their last attempt at kidnapping after the failed attack on the Apostle was along Owo-Ikare road where they were heavily engaged and repelled by the police escort accompanying their target.’
‘The suspect further confessed the plan of the gang on October 21, 2022, was to forcibly kidnap the Apostle and collect a huge ransom.’
In his account, Isah revealed that he was the individual who discharged the first shots at the approaching convoy. Regrettably, he conceded that their primary target was able to evade the attack.
Adejobi highlighted that extensive endeavors were being pursued to apprehend the outstanding suspects who have not yet been caught.
Adejobi assured that relentless actions were being carried out to apprehend the other suspects who are still on the loose.
The FIB-IRT team made a breakthrough by apprehending a four-man gang that had kidnapped a Swiss national. The gang had coerced the victim’s family in Switzerland into paying a $2000 ransom, accompanied by horrifying threats of kidney removal if their demands were not met.