A 22-year-old cripple, Buhari Haruna, has been arrested by the Police in Katsina state while attempting to pick up a ransom for a kidnap operation.
Haruna, a resident of Kankia local government area in the state, was paraded at the state police command on Monday, for threatening and masterminding a kidnap attempt on one Hamisu Salisu of the same community.
Spokesperson of the state police command, Gambo Isah, said the suspect, who claimed to be a phone repairer, had called his prime target on phone on August 20, 2021, demanding the sum of N2 million to save his family from being killed or kidnapped.
The suspect, according to Isah, revealed during interrogation that his initial plan was to kidnap the victim’s father but suspended the idea, when he realised that the victim was old, sick and hospitalised.
He said Hamisu reported the matter to the police, and was advised to play along with the suspect who instructed him to drop the N2 million ransom at a location.
Isah said unknown to the suspect, the police had cordoned off the area, waiting for him to appear and pick up the ransom.
“He then came as a crippled crawling on his knee and buttocks to take the ransom and was arrested,” Isah said.
“In the course of interrogation, Haruna confessed to the crime, though he claimed that it was only his first time.”
