Why I live along the road – Kidnapper confesses

A 20-year-old suspect has told police in Osun State that he set up camps near expressways to facilitate kidnapping travellers.

Twenty-year-old Ahmad Muhammad was arrested on Ife/Ibadan Expressway at Wasinmi, a village in the state.

During his parade at police headquarters in Osogbo, the state capital, he said he was one of the seven gang members who kidnapped passengers on the expressway, adding that he was arrested in a shootout with police.

He said he hailed from Tambuwal community in Sokoto State.

“We kidnapped two people along Ibadan/Gbongan Expressway after we made a roadblock. The police were alerted and they faced my gang in a gun battle during which my other gang members ran away with the kidnapped victims. It is painful that my other gang members left me alone in that bush and ran away,” he said.

“It was easy for the police to arrest me because I don’t know the routes in that bush and I could not trace my steps to the place where my other gang members escaped to.”

He named his gang members as Alhaji, Buba, Siraju, Sadiq, Saidu.

“My gang members are all Fulani and they are not new in the business, it is a means of survival. I don’t have a shelter, I live along the expressway. I live on the road to make operation easy. I live along Ibadan, Kaduna, Abuja expressways to block roads and kidnap passengers for ransom.”