The Niger State Police Command has arrested a group of individuals who posed as operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out a kidnapping and extortion scheme targeting students in Lapai.
Naturenex, report that the suspects — identified as Emmanuel Linus, 30, from Deidei, Abuja; Hyelda Aliyu, 28, from Nyanya, Abuja; and Abduljallid Tanko, 33, from Karo, Abuja — were apprehended on May 13, 2025. The arrest followed police efforts to track their getaway car, a Toyota Corolla with registration number ABJ 245 CU, along Suleja Road close to Kwakuti.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, disclosed that the suspects were in possession of forged EFCC identity cards produced at a business center in Nyanya, Abuja, all displaying the same identification number 1069.
Abiodun revealed that the suspects stormed a student’s residence armed with electric tasers made to look like guns, seized five mobile phones, and abducted two students.
In his words, “The suspects demanded N10 million from the student’s family, later negotiating to ₦500,000, before they were arrested.”
During interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were acting on information supplied by two accomplices — Mohammed Hassan and Hamisu Adamu — both residents of Angwan-Hausa in Lapai. The informants reportedly provided Emmanuel Linus with information about the students, a connection traced back to when they knew each other in Paiko.
Further findings revealed that Emmanuel is a dismissed soldier with a criminal record and had previously served a jail term within the last two years.
SP Abiodun confirmed that all five suspects, including the two informants, are currently held at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), and will be prosecuted in court once the investigation is concluded.
