The re-arrested kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Bala, popularly known as Wadume, has confessed to the police that soldiers assisted him to escape.
The fugitive was apprehended at his hideout at Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano State on Monday night following a massive manhunt launched by the police Special Forces and IRT members in Taraba and the surrounding states.
Wadume was assisted to escape by soldiers after the police team came under attack from troops attached to 93 Battalion, Takum, on August 6.
Three policemen and two civilians were killed during the incident while five other police officers were injured.
In a viral video released on Tuesday, the suspect admitted that he was released from police custody by soldiers who cut off his handcuffs.
Speaking in Hausa, he said, “My name is Hamisu Bala Wadume. Police came to arrest me, When they arrested me, army chased after them and opened fire.
“From there, they (soldiers) took me to their headquarters, and cut off my handcuffs and released me. I went back to my house and police came to re-arrest me.”
It was gathered that Wadume was tracked to Layin Mai Allo Hotoro community by the police using sophisticated equipment which pinpointed his location through his phone calls to family members and friends while in hiding.
The suspect would in the coming days undergo intensive and marathon interrogation focused on eliciting credible information and evidence against his collaborators in the military and the police.
People & Politics recall that it was reported last Saturday how the investigators discovered that the Crime Officer and Station Officer in Ibi police station had connived with Wadume in his criminal enterprise.
The CO was discovered to have made over 200 phone calls to the millionaire kidnapper while the station officer was found to have torn off the entry made by the ill-fated IRT team to destroy the evidence indicating that the officers reported the operation to arrest Wadume at the station in line with the police standard operating procedure.
The force spokesman, Frank Mba, in a statement, said Wadume’s arrest, “will no doubt, help in bringing answers to the numerous but hitherto unanswered questions touching on the incident and the larger criminal enterprise of the suspect.”
“The police had been on the massive manhunt for the suspect, Alhaji Hamisu Bala Wadume, since August 6, 2019, following the unfortunate incident in Ibi, Taraba State, which resulted in the brutal murder of three police officers and two civilians, and injury to five others.
“The suspect, who was appropriately restrained at the time of the incident, was subsequently released by his “rescuers” after they had destroyed the restraining handcuffs,” Mba stated.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, has commended the operatives for the arrest just as he also expressed his gratitude to all Nigerians for “their unparalleled show of love and empathy to the Force and the families of the officers and patriotic civilians who paid the supreme price in the service of their fatherland.”
Findings showed that the Joint Investigation Panel, headed by Rear Admiral IT Olaiya, a former Director of Naval Intelligence, would still continue with its assignment.
The panel was constituted by the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Gabriel Olonisakin, to probe the incident, following a directive by President Muhammadu Buhari asking the military to investigate the killing of three policemen and two civilians in Taraba State by soldiers.
