The Bauchi State Police Command has arrested a 25-year old man for kidnapping and killing a five-year-old boy in Ningi Local Government Area of the state.
Spokesperson of the command, SP Ahmed Mohammed Wakil, who disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, November 10, 2022, said the suspect, Anas Auwal, lured the minor with sweets to his room.
He later contacted the boy’s father demanding N5million ransom before releasing him. But the man told Auwal that he couldn’t raise such a huge sum of money.
According to the PPRO, the suspect hacked the boy to death after he realised that the victim recognised him.
“The Command has arrested Anas Auwal ‘m’ 25yrs old from Tsangaya village via Ningi local government area of Bauchi State for kidnapping and gruesome murder of five-year-old Abba Yahuza ‘m’ of the same address,” the statement read.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that on the 11th October 2022 at about 1400hrs the suspect lured the victim into his room with sweets and later, called the victim’s father by phone and threatened him to bring the sum of five million naira (N5, 000,000.00) as ransom but the father told him that he couldn’t raise the demanded amount.
“The suspect later came to realize that the victim knew him and that his identity would be revealed if he released him.
“Consequently, the suspect decided to hack the victim to death in his room and waited until nighttime, bundled the victim in a sack and buried the body in a shallow grave.
“The suspect has confessed to the crime as the Commissioner of Police CP Umar Mamman Sanda directed that the suspect be charged to court for prosecution.
“In the same vein, the CP has advised parents and guardians to be vigilant and security-wise about the whereabouts of their children.”