Nigerian Army Personnel Supplying Rifles To Kidnappers For N300,000 Arrested In Abuja

Nigerian Army Personnel Supplying Rifles To Kidnappers For N300,000 Arrested In Abuja

Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) have arrested a Nigerian soldier attached to the Muhammadu Buhari Cantonment in Tungan-Maje in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the suburb of Abuja for allegedly renting out and selling guns to kidnappers.

It was gathered that the operation which led to the arrest of the unnamed soldier was carried out last week around Dankogi Park in Zuba in collaboration with members of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria in the area.

Our correspondent reports that a vigilante source said that the DSS from Gwagwalada office sought the assistance of the local security group in Zuba to arrest the suspect based on previous arms deal allegations against him.

“It was learnt that the suspect, in the first deal, had allegedly hired out a gun for a kidnap operation for N300,000.

"Then in the second instance, they contacted him for another deal and he demanded N200,000 which the kidnappers allegedly paid, but he failed to produce the gun,’ the vigilante source was quoted as saying."

According to the source, when the kidnappers who had been in the DSS custody made the allegation against the soldier, a sting operation was planned against him; “So they contacted him for another deal to supply them with AK-47s to buy at the cost of N3 million.

“We went to the agreed site on the delivery day here in Zuba, and took position. He arrived at the scene in his car to present the arm, and that was the time we came out and caught him with the gun well wrapped.”

The source added that an AK-47 rifle, as well as a fully loaded magazine with 30 rounds of ammunition, was found inside one of the safe compartments of the suspect’s car when he was arrested.

The source added that “We drove him to our office where a document was signed with the DSS and handed him over to them.”

Meanwhile, it was gathered that army officials from the headquarters in Abuja met the vigilantes in their Zuba office the following day after the suspect was arrested and took their statement on how the operation was carried out.