The suspects, Henry Terkula Gwa ‘m’ 25yrs from Donga LGA of Benue State and Terhile Tsavbe, ‘m’ 30yrs from Gawa village, Katsina-ala LGA of Benue State were arrested on the 6th and 11th June, 2020 following intense search for the victims and manhunt for the perpetrators by the Police team.
Investigations revealed that the criminal gang collected 7.5million naira as ransom from the families of the victims as condition for their release. The suspects forced the late Dr Audu Benedict to issue them a cheque of five hundred thousand naira (N500,000.00) which they cashed in a commercial bank in Gboko town, Benue State. Subsequently, the suspects killed the three (3) victims and had them buried in a shallow grave at Gawa in Katsina-ala LGA of Benue State.
While effort is being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large, the police team was on the verge of exhuming the remains of the slain victims.
In a similar development, men of Nigeria Police have arrested 25 other criminal suspects for their involvements in a varying cases of kidnapping, armed robbery and illegal possession of prohibited firearms currently under investigations.
The suspects were members of high-profile criminal gangs terrorizing communities and major highways of the North-Central and North-West States of the country.
Exhibits recovered by the police team from the suspects include: 6 AK47 rifles, three (3) locally fabricated pump action guns, One (1) locally fabricated pistol, 2 dane guns, 55 rounds of AK47 ammunition, 4 empty magazines, one (1) laptop computer and One (1) Toyota Corolla Car with REG No. MKD 13 RC.
All the suspects will be charged to court at the conclusion of investigations.
The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu has assured that the battle against criminal elements in the country remained a continuous exercise. He then called for all hands to be on deck towards decisive victory and reclaiming of the public space from the criminal elements.
