The suspects were said to have buried the body in a shallow grave by a river.
A teenager and one other person have been arrested by Niger State police command for allegedly kidnapping and killing a 13-year-old boy, Yasir Salisu.
The suspects were said to have buried the body in a shallow grave by a river.
It was learnt that the victim went missing on July 29. While the suspects buried the body in a shallow grave by the riverside.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abiodun Wasiu, in a statement said the suspects, Nafiu Umar, 18, and Usman Sabiu, 22, confessed to kidnapping the victim.
The police spokesperson added that the suspects confessed that they kidnapped their victim to collect a ransom from his father, The Punch reports.
“Usman Sabiu confessed to having conspired with Nafiu Umar and abducted the missing person to the house of Nafiu with the intention of collecting N100,000 from the victim’s father.
“Unfortunately, he claimed that the victim could not produce the father’s contact to demand ransom and both suspects were identified by the victim, who are neighbours, hence the victim was strangled and killed by the suspects,” the statement read.
“However, the corpse was exhumed and deposited at the Umar Yar’Adua Hospital morgue for an autopsy,” the police spokesman said.
Kidnapping has become a huge money-spinner, creating a thriving criminal economy, which attracts more assailants.
At least 220 people have been killed in attacks on about 300 communities in Niger State this year.
Niger State Governor, Sani Bello in January said this while addressing journalists after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the State House in Abuja.
“In January this year alone, we suffered not less than 50 reported attacks and loss of lives, between 1st and 17th January. Within the same period, not less than 300 communities have been invaded by bandits.
“The number of people kidnapped is 200, including three Chinese nationals. We also lost some security personnel. Their number is 25. Unfortunately, we lost about 165 civilians and 30 local vigilantes. So, it’s a very dire situation that we have been battling in the last few weeks since the beginning of this year,” Mr Bello said.
“What I realize is that they have been taking us on a merry-go-round. When we deal with them in Niger, they move to Kaduna. When Kaduna deals with them, they move to Katsina. They have been hibernating in the forest. Some of these operations need to be handled simultaneously so that we get the result.
“We are not happy and we are sad with the developments in these states. We are doing whatever we can, using kinetic and non-kinetic efforts to see that we address the present situation. As we go on, we will try to update you from time to time on progress being made in this fight,” he said.