Police deny kidnapping as bandits demand N100 million for 6 ASPs

The Bauchi State Police Command says it is not aware of the reported kidnapping of senior officers who were attached to the unit.

The command “has not received any signal in respect of her officers being abducted,” state police spokesperson Edet Okon told the media.

“The alleged abduction of officers is still unknown to us as we have yet to receive any alert on the matter.

“That is the official position of the command as of this moment,” Okon said.

But the police comment contradicts widespread report of the kidnapping of a number of Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASPs) who were attached to the Mobile Police Squadron (MPS) 6 in Maiduguri.

Reports say the senior police officers are now being held captive inside kidnappers’ den located in President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state of Katsina.

The bandits who abducted the officers are reportedly demanding N100m ransom to release six of the ASPs.

The ASPs were reportedly demobilised from the MPS riot unit in Bauchi. Eight of them were reportedly on their way to the Zamfara State Police Command on transfer when they were ambushed in the Dogondaji area of Katsina and taken into the forest.

“On getting to Kano,” a source told Punch “their driver said he couldn’t continue the journey to Zamfara because his vehicle had developed a fault.

“They (the eight ASPs) joined another vehicle and, on their way around Dongodaji in Katsina State, the bandits accosted and kidnapped them.

“While being taken away, two of them escaped and one of them was shot in the leg though he didn’t die. He found himself at a village and the villagers took him to a police station and he was taken to a hospital.

“The other six officers are still with the bandits who are demanding N100m ransom,” the source reportedly said.

An officer who escaped the kidnapping reportedly said he was too exhausted to narrate his ordeal.

“I have high blood pressure,” he said.

“I just came back from a check-up. I cannot remember everything now. The incident happened on Sunday along the Katsina-Gusau Road,” he said.