Police arrest fake EFCC operatives for abducting students in Lapai

The Niger State Police Command has arrested three suspects impersonating operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for abducting and extorting students in Lapai.

The suspects, Emmanuel Linus, 30, of Deidei, Abuja, Hyelda Aliyu, 28, of Nyanya, Abuja, and Abduljallid Tanko, 33, of Karo, Abuja, were arrested on May 13, 2025, after police operatives trailed their vehicle, a Toyota Corolla with registration number ABJ 245 CU, to Suleja Road, by Kwakuti.

According to the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, the suspects used fake EFCC ID cards, which were designed at a shop in Nyanya, Abuja, bearing the same identification number 1069.

He explained that the suspects entered a student’s room with electric tasers held as guns, collected five phones, and abducted two persons.

“The suspects demanded N10 million from the student’s family, later negotiating to N500,000, before they were arrested,” the state command’s PRO revealed.

The police disclosed that during interrogation, the suspects confessed that they were invited by their informants, Mohammed Hassan and Hamisu Adamu, both of Angwan-Hausa via Lapai, who provided them with information about the students.

Abiodun revealed that the two informant collaborators were also arrested.

“The informants gave Emmanuel Linus information about the students, having known each other in Paiko. Emmanuel was identified as a dismissed soldier with criminal records and an ex-convict in the past two years.”

All five suspects, including the two informants, are currently under further investigation at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) and will be charged to court for prosecution immediately after the investigation.

Police arrest fake EFCC operatives for abducting students in Lapai