Kaduna State Police Command said it has arrested the masterminds of the kidnapping and murder of students of Greenfield University and the abductions along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

The police identified one of the arrested suspects as a notorious terrorist leader, Ibrahim Abdullahi popularly known as Mande. The police said Mande had confessed to being a leader of a kidnap syndicate operating along Kaduna-Abuja Expressway.

He was said to have masterminded and participated in the kidnapping and murder of students of Greenfield University and most of the kidnappings along the Abuja-Kaduna highway.

Parading the suspects at the Kaduna Police Command Headquarters on Thursday, the Force Public Relations Officer Muyiwa Adejobi said Mande was arrested based on credible information at the Abuja-Kaduna Road flyover by Rido Junction in Chikun Local Government Area.

The Force PRO further disclosed that police operatives also arrested another notorious kidnap gang leader who masterminded the September 2023 attack on the Saint Raphael Catholic Church at Fadan Kamantan where a seminarian and the church were burnt.

Adejobi said:  “Regrettably, the suspects had already set ablaze the priest’s residence before the arrival of the authorities. Despite the valiant efforts of operatives, one seminarian Stephen Naaman tragically lost his life in the inferno, and property worth millions of Naira, including a Honda vehicle and a motorcycle, were consumed by the fire.

“However, due to diligence and tireless pursuit of the issue by the police, on the 22nd of March, 2024 one Yakubu Saidu, the mastermind and leader of the notorious kidnapping gang, was apprehended and he confessed to his involvement in the heinous crime”.

Police operatives also arrested a suspect Shedrack John for allegedly aiding kidnappers by providing medical services to injured bandits in the forest as well as those other suspects Auwal Hassan, Auwal Ahmed, and Auwal Adamu.