Operatives of the Kaduna State Police Command have arrested four suspects in connection with the abduction and subsequent killing of a six-year-old boy.
The suspects were alleged to have killed their victim after collecting one million naira as ransom from his father, Kabiru Magayaki.
They were paraded before reporters on Monday by the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mohammed Jalige, at the command headquarters in the state capital.
Jalige explained that the abduction of the victim was plotted by his father’s neighbour, Mohammad Nazifi, who took advantage of his close relationship with the family.
Nazifi, the prime suspect, was said to have lured the innocent boy to an unknown destination where he and his gang members kidnapped him and took him to Kano State.
Police investigation revealed that the prime suspect sent the little boy on an errand on April 24, to a location where his accomplices had laid siege for him.
Five days after the boy’s disappearance, the kidnappers called his father and demanded a ransom of N30 million before they would release him.
Unknown to Magayaki that his neighbour hatched the plot, he went into negotiation with the abductors and after much negotiations, they settled for one million naira which the family paid but could not secure the freedom of their son.
Nazifi, on the other hand, was said to have gone further to get the boy killed over concerns that he could inform his parents that he (the suspect) orchestrated the abduction should the victim be released.
The boy was, thereafter, strangled until he died, and his remains were concealed in a drainage tunnel in the outskirts of Kano metropolis.
After paying the ransom and no sign of the return of his son, Magayaki reported the case to the police for assistance on Thursday last week.
According to the police, the suspects confessed to the crime and led security operatives to where the decomposing body of the victim was identified and evacuated.
Jalige said that the suspects would be charged to court for criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, and culpable homicide.
