The Edo State Police Command has arrested a 52 year old Islamic spiritualist, identified as Jubril Ibrahim and four others over alleged involvement in kidnapping.
The spiritualist and other suspects, identified as Ahmadu Suleiman, Mohammed Abubakar, Tukur Adam a.k.a. Dogo, Musa Ibrahim and Iro Ibrahim, were reportedly arrested on August 30, 2026, in Niger State.
The Commissioner of Police, CP, in charge of the Command, Patrick Daaor, said this while parading suspects arrested for various crimes across the state.
Daaor alleged that the suspects had been terrorizing parts of Edo North Senatorial District, especially the Auchi, Jattu and Okpella axis.
The CP said the spiritualist specialized in preparing charms for suspected kidnappers.
He said the suspects were arrested following the abduction of one Mohammed Tasiu Imokhe and his wife at Jattu, in Etsako West Local Government Area, on August 8, 2026.
The police commissioner said that following the reports of the development, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit and Violent Crime Response Unit swung into action immediately, taking advantage of technical and actionable intelligence from the Technical Intelligence Unit, TIU, Abuja.
“This resulted in the arrest of Malam Jibril Ibrahim, Mohammed Abubakar, Tukur Adam a.k.a. Dogo, Musa Ibrahim and Iro Ibrahim on 30 August 2026 in Niger State.
The suspects have confessed to the Jattu kidnapping and several other kidnapping operations in Edo and Kogi States.
“On the basis of information from the suspects, operatives later recovered two fake AK-47 rifles, one pump-action rifle, six magazines and 200 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition in the Okpella forest on 1/9/2026.
The statement said “profiling of the suspects and efforts to arrest other members of the gang are underway.”
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The spiritualist, Jubril Ibrahim, in an interview denied preparing charms for the suspected kidnappers, saying he prayed for one of them on the instruction of his mother.
“I gather the almajiri and I teach them the Qur’an,” the spiritualist said. So, Ahmadu Suleiman’s mother came to me and told me to pray for her son, that he travels a lot, so I should pray for his safe trip to and fro, and that is what I have been doing. I pray for a safe trip for him.”
However, he admitted to have known that one of the suspects, Suleiman, had an AK-47 rifle.
24-year-old Suleiman, however, said he only participated in one operation in Auchi and that he worked with various kidnapping syndicates across the country before returning to his base in Niger State.
Suleiman told an interpreter: “When we reach the community, we look for a beautiful house, and we shoot into the air, and as they scamper for their lives, they run out, and we hold them and take them to the bush, and demand for money.
He said he collected N1 million from the Auchi operation, claiming that it was the only kidnapping operation he had participated in in the area.
He said he was also involved in other kidnapping operations in Kogi State and other parts of the country where he got between N500,000 and N700,000.
He denied that he ever worked with any informant, stating that they only looked out for fancy cars and buildings when they wanted to carry out a kidnapping operation.
