· Alleged arms route to kidnappers uncovered
· 560 suspects arrested in raids by security agencies
· Residents demand more action
Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, on face value is a city well secured with little criminal activities. Wrong! Though home to the headquarters of all the security agencies; Police, State Security Service, SSS, Civil Defence, Immigration, Prisons, Guards Brigade, National Intelligence Agency, NIA, Directorate of Military Intelligence, DMI, and others, it still swarms with criminal gangs, kidnappers and the notorious one-chance robbers.
Nothing bears more witness to this than the harvest of arrests by security agencies especially the FCT Command of the Police between May and July 9, 2026; 560 suspects.
In coordinated raids, security agencies dismantled kidnapping rings, and recovered arms, ammunition, and illicit drugs. A major breakthrough was the arrest of a six-member kidnapping syndicate that extorted ₦8.25 million ransom before being tracked and captured.
The police, last week, announced what it described as a major breakthrough against kidnapping, as it uncovered an alleged arms supply route used to arm criminal gangs operating within the FCT and neighbouring states.
The breakthrough followed the arrest of a suspected arms dealer, Misbahu Isa, during a major anti-kidnapping operation in border communities, with police alleging that he supplied ammunition to kidnappers and bandits operating across the FCT, Niger, Kaduna and Kogi states.
The development marks a shift in the command’s anti-kidnapping strategy from pursuing armed gangs alone to targeting the alleged supply chain providing them with ammunition and other logistics used to sustain their operations.
Addressing journalists at the Command Headquarters in Abuja, the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Sanusi, said the suspect was arrested, alongside Bello Abdullahi, Shuaibu Iliya and Idris Abubakar, during coordinated clearance operations in Kwali, Abaji and Kuje Area Councils.
The police commissioner said the operations, carried out by the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit and other security personnel, led to the dislodgement of suspected kidnappers’ hideouts and caves in Nago Forest, Kuje Area Council.
Although the police did not link the suspect to any specific kidnapping gang operating within the FCT, investigators alleged that he had recently supplied more than 20,000 rounds of live ammunition to wanted bandits and kidnappers across three neighbouring states.
Sanusi said, “Investigations revealed that Misbahu Isa is an Arms dealer responsible for supplying ammunition to several kidnappers across Niger, Kaduna, and Kogi states. Most recently, he supplied over twenty thousand (20,000) rounds of live ammunition to wanted bandits and kidnappers and received a payment of three-million-naira (N3,000,000) as payment for the deliveries.”
According to the police, the suspect subsequently led operatives to Zuba Motor Park where they recovered 42 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition concealed inside his Volkswagen Golf saloon vehicle, allegedly used as a commercial vehicle.
Police also recovered six bottles of Codolyn syrup, nine bottles of Piscof syrup, two bottles of Exiplon syrup, one bottle of NGC Codeine syrup, 125 wraps of substances suspected to be cannabis sativa, Tramadol tablets and capsules, a magazine loaded with six rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition, a torchlight, a Tecno handset, a bag of assorted clothes, a national identity slip and N170,000 cash.
The latest operation came days before police operatives rescued four kidnapped residents following a fierce gun battle with suspected kidnappers around Jikoko Hills after an attack on Mpape.
One resident was killed during the attack, while another sustained gunshot injury. Police said the rescued victims were reunited with their families, while efforts to apprehend the fleeing suspects are continuing.
Beyond the sweeping raids, the police chief highlighted several major breakthroughs recorded by the command, including the dismantling of a notorious six-member kidnapping and “one chance” robbery syndicate linked to the abduction of a female victim in the upscale Maitama area of Abuja.
The operation began on 29 June 2026, when the command received a distress call reporting the abduction of a young woman in Maitama.
A team from the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit was immediately deployed, and digital tracking revealed that the kidnappers had taken the victim to Kwan-Kwashe Village, a remote settlement in neighbouring Niger State.
Although the suspects collected N8.25 million from the victim’s family before releasing her on 3 July 2026, police operatives sustained the operation and arrested six members of the gang in Suleja, Niger State, on 5 July 2026.
The suspects were identified as Ifeoma Nnamchi, 35, alleged to be the gang leader; Peter Rasheed Onwunumah, 40; Olanipekun Anuoluwa, 46; Jemimah Monday, 25; Gabriel Nnamchi, 14; and Stanley Nnamchi, 17.
Two of those arrested are children of the gang leader.
Items recovered from the suspects included the full N8.25 million ransom, two 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.
Investigations revealed that the gang had operated along the Kubwa Expressway, Maitama Federal Housing Road, and other parts of the FCT since 2024.
Despite these successes, residents say a lot more still needs to be done. They pointed to the July 5 siege to Rock Garden City Estate in Jikwoyi, popularly known as Emmy Dan Estate, Dangbana, in Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, by suspected bandits.
The bandits engaged security operatives in a fierce gun battle, killing a member of the vigilante group in the area and escaping with ransom money allegedly meant to secure the release of a kidnapped victim.
The residents decried a situation where the alleged bandits operated around midnight of Saturday, July 4 to about 3am on Sunday, July 5, noting that was just one in the series of violent attacks linked to growing kidnapping activities across the satellite communities of Jikwoyi, Orozo, Kurudu and Karshi all in AMAC.
