The arrested suspects were listed as: “(1) Sunday Jatau 'M' 35yrs, native of Kaduna State, the leader of the gang who confessed to have personally shot and killed Dr. Mailafia.
Men of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested 14 armed robbers and kidnappers whose speciality is operating on the Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway.
According to the Police, the suspects have also confessed to murdering Dr Ibrahim Mailafia, a Senior Lecturer with Nasarawa State University, Lafia.
“In continuation of the mandate of operation Absolute Sanity Launched By IGP Ibrahim K Idris, during follow-up to the gruesome murder of Dr. Ibrahim Mailafia on 3/11/17 Between Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway by deadly kidnappers/armed robbers while on his way to Kano to visit his family after obtaining a doctorate degree on Artificial Intelligence from United Kingdom, technical Intelligence was generated from TIU about the murderers/kidnappers responsible for the dastardly act who are equally terrorizing motorists along Niger-Abuja and Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressways,” the Police said.
“Special Team of the IGP's Intelligence Response Team IRT, in an unrelenting follow-up, eventually arrested 14 confirmed members of the kidnapping and armed robbery syndicate, including the receivers of their robbed cars.”
The arrested suspects were listed as: “(1) Sunday Jatau 'M' 35yrs, native of Kaduna State, the leader of the gang who confessed to have personally shot and killed Dr. Mailafia.
“(2) Solomon Jatau 'M' 40yrs, brother to the gang leader, (3) Ayuba Jatau 'M' 32yrs, also younger brother to the gang leader, (4) Ishaku Luka aka Dogo, who sells arms and ammunition to the gang, 'M' 42yrs native of Kujama LGA Kaduna, (5) Bature Adamu 'M' 38yrs, (6) Bello Abdullahi 32yrs, (7) Mamuda Mohammed 'M' 27yrs, 8() Ibrahim Daniel 'M' 27yrs native of Chad Republic, who was found in possession of the late Dr Mailafia's phones and (9) Emmanuel Garba 'M' 27yrs native of Ekot-Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State.”
Others were listed as: “(10) Alhaji Usman Mohammed 'M' 35yrs, receiver of their robbed goods (11) Alhaji Ibrahim Baba 'M' 49yrs, receiver of robbed goods, (12) Bello Aliyu 'M' 36yrs, receiver of robbed goods, (13) Surajo Mohammed 'M' 35yrs, receiver of robbed goods and (14) Hassan Ibrahim 'M' 55yrs, receiver of robbed goods.”
“They were all arrested in Kaduna and Zaria respectively. Suspects confessed to several armed robberies, kidnappings and murders within the highways of Kaduna, Kano and Niger states,” the statement added.
“Two AK47 rifles loaded with ammunition, 1 Baretta pistol and several robbed vehicles and phones, including the iPhone of late Dr. Mailafia, were recovered from the suspects.”
The Police added that serious efforts to arrest more gang members and recover the remaining operational weapons were in progress.