The Police Command in FCT has arrested one Bunmi Samuel, mother of two, her boyfriend and 12 others, over alleged various crimes, including kidnapping, armed robbery and burglary.

The FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Haruna Garba, who paraded the suspects at the command headquarters on Thursday in Abuja, said the suspects were arrested at different locations in the territory.

Garba said that various assorted weapons, vehicles, laptops, phones, musical instruments, among others, were recovered from the suspects.

According to him, a 36-year-old Bunmi Samuel was arrested along with his boyfriend, who specialised in snatching GSM Phones from innocent commuters.

“After snatching phones, he removes the SIM cards and sells the phone, then hands over the SIM cards to his girlfriend, one Bunmi Samuel.

“The girlfriend, on her part, makes withdrawals of all monies from the accounts that are linked to the SIM cards.

“The police operatives have so far recovered 76 SIM cards, two Opay ATM cards and a golden wrist watch from the suspects,” he said.

He said that the police operatives, in collaboration with the vigilante, also arrested five suspects, namely, Bernard Francis, Felix Benjami, Peter Benjamin, Helen Sylvester, and Hamza Haruna, over their alleged involvement in kidnapping of a minor.

According to him, police also arrested a 26-year-old Kennedy Esezobor of Tudun Wada village, Lugbe, FCT a notorious criminal and cultist, with one fabricated single barrel gun and locally fabricated AK-47 rifle

He said the operatives of the Anti-kidnapping unit of the Command, acting on actionable intelligence, stormed Kabin Mongoro Forest and arrested one Mohammed Hamza while on his way to bandits camp bordering Nasarawa State.

“The suspect confessed to being an informant, a drug and food supplier to one Dogo,” he said.

According to him, the command, in a swift operation, impounded six vehicles between August 30 and August 31, bearing both foreign and local plate numbers or with foreign number plates at the back and a Nigerian number plate in front of the vehicle.

“The modus operandi of these drivers is that they use the vehicle to convey unsuspecting passengers, and midway to their destination, they dispose of their handsets and other valuables.

“The moment they carry out this criminal act and to avoid being traced or linked to the crime, they quickly remove the Nigeria Plate number,” he said.

He said that police also arrested a 38-year-old Mustapha Kyari, who specilaised in vandalising manholes in the city

“The police operatives, while on a routine stop and search duty at Secretariat Junction, Gwagwalada, intercepted a motorcycle with a passenger later identified as one Japheth Nuhu ‘m’ of behind Brown Berry Estate Phase 3 Gwagwalada.

“The said Japheth jumped down and took to his heels on sighting the police, but was given a hot chase.

“He was subsequently arrested, and a berretta pistol with four rounds of 9mm live ammunition was recovered from him,” he said.

According to him, it is being suspected that the suspect and his accomplice at large are behind the robbery activities in Gwagwalada and its environs.

Police arrest mother of 2, others over robbery, kidnapping in Abuja