CITIZENS COMPASS— Federal Capital Territory, (FCT) Police Command on Tuesday, said it has arrested six suspected members of a notorious kidnapping syndicate and recovered N8.25 million ransom from the suspects.
The ransom was allegedly paid by the family of one of the abducted victims.
The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Muhammed Sanusi, disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja saying that the command received a distress call on June 29, 2026, about the abduction of a young woman in the Maitama area of Abuja.
He explained that following the report, a team from the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit was immediately deployed to track the kidnappers.
According to the CP, the suspects later contacted the victim’s family and demanded a ransom of N20 million for her release.
“Unknown to the suspects, we were already hot on their trail. Our digital tracking revealed that they had taken the victim out of the FCT and kept her in Kwan-Kwashe Village, a remote settlement in Niger State,” he said.
Sanusi noted that although the suspects eventually collected N8.25 million from the victim’s family before releasing her on July 3, police operatives sustained the operation and arrested six members of the gang in Suleja, Niger State, on July 5.
He identified the suspects as Ifeoma Nnamchi, alleged to be the gang leader, Peter Rasheed Onwunumah, Olanipekun Anuoluwa, Jemimah Monday, Gabriel Nnamchi and Stanley Nnamchi. According to him, two of those arrested are children of the gang leader.
Items recovered from the suspects include the full N8.25 million ransom, two fully tinted operational vehicles—a Toyota Corolla with registration number SMK 559 FV and a Toyota Camry with registration number YAB 712 NH—a cutlass, seven pairs of AirPods, several pieces of jewellery suspected to have been stolen from previous victims, five mobile phones and a laptop.
The police commissioner further revealed that investigations showed that the alleged gang leader, Ifeoma Nnamchi, and another suspect, Olanipekun Anuoluwa, had previously been arrested by the FCT Police Command in 2022 and 2019 respectively for similar offences.
Despite their previous arrests, Sanusi said the suspects regrouped and resumed criminal activities, operating along the Kubwa Expressway, Maitama Federal Housing Road and other parts of the FCT since 2024.
He added that members of the syndicate admitted to carrying out several “one chance” operations, although they could not accurately recall the total number.
According to the police, the gang confessed that in its five most recent operations, it kidnapped and robbed five female victims and extorted a total of N12.8 million in ransom.
Sanusi said the suspects remain in police custody and will be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of investigations.
The Commissioner of Police warned the public against the use of tinted glasses on vehicles, stating that criminal elements have been using such vehicles for their nefarious activities.
