The Department of State Services, (DSS), yesterday said it had discovered a community in Sokoto State where its village head and many of the residents are allegedly involved in criminalities.
The village, Zangon Arab, located in Sabon Birni Local Government Area of the state, is close to the Nigerian-Niger border.
The DSS Director in the state, Alhaji Tijjani Kafa, said the discovery followed a raid in search of one Abdullahi Muhammad (aka Hana zuwa), a suspected kingpin of a 7-member kidnap syndicate.
“The village is inaccessible but our men were able to penetrate it and arrested Hana Zuwa in a remote hamlet called Zangerawa located deep inside the village but other people, including the village head had fled into the Niger Republic except their wives and children,” he said.
He added that they had arrested other members of the syndicate including their spiritual leader, one Abdullahi Adamu alias Boka. Among members was a health practitioner in Goronyo Local Government Area and relatives of one of their victims, one Nasiru Aliyu of Taloka village in Goronyo.
Kafa said in their confessional statement, they admitted kidnaping one Nasiru Aliyu in Taloka village Goronyo local government and held him at Zangon Arab until a ransom of N1million was paid by his family.
Source: Daily Trust
