The Zamfara State Police Command has arrested two suspected informants for allegedly collaborating with bandits operating from Munhaye forest in the state’s Tsafe Local Government Area.
The suspects were identified as Hauwa’u Usman, a female, and Aliyu Mamuda by the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kolo Yusuf, who spoke through the command spokesman, SP Mohammed Shehu.
According to the commissioner, on October 6, 2022, the Police Tactical Operatives arrested the above-mentioned suspects based on intelligence that they were collaborating with notorious bandits operating out of Munhaye Forest.
“One of the suspects, Hauwa’u Usman, a female residing in Gusau, admitted that Ali and Hamza are her younger brothers and were among the bandits based in Munhaye forest terrorizing Tsafe and neighboring communities in Katsina State.”
“Intelligence information on her revealed that she was an informant to her two younger bandit brothers in the bush.”
“Even though she denied fraternizing with them, she indicted the second suspect, Aliyu Mamuda, for supplying drugs, food, operational motorcycles for banditry, and hiring laborers for bandits to go and farm their farmlands in the bush,” he said.
Continuing, Mr. Yusuf Kolo stated that two more suspects were apprehended for alleged criminal conspiracy and intimidation for kidnappings, naming them Mubarak Yusuf and Ibrahim Rabiu, while one Aliyu Buzu remained at large.
“On October 7, 2022, Police Tactical Operatives assigned to the Commissioner’s Monitoring Unit at the State Police Headquarters acted on intelligence information and arrested the suspects.”
“One of the suspects, Mubarak Yusuf, confessed to conspiring with his gang members, Ibrahim Rabi’u and Aliyu Buzu, who are now at large, and calling his uncle and neighbor, intimidating them to either give them five million naira and four million naira, respectively, or escape kidnapping.”
“The second suspect, Ibrahim Rabi’u, also confessed to the crime and further stated that, aside from this crime, he also specializes in fraudulent acts where he approached several innocent people, claiming to be a spirit that makes people rich, saying that he had collected money on three different occasions in the name of making them rich,” he said.