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The Borno State Police Command has rescued a 7-year-old boy who was allegedly kidnapped in Maiduguri. The police also arrested five suspects linked to the incident, while also recovering part of the ransom paid by the victim’s family.
The command’s spokesperson, ASP Nahum Kenneth Daso disclosed this in a statement. He said the rescue followed a coordinated investigation by detectives of the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Maiduguri.
According to the statement, the case was reported on March 24, 2026, when a resident of Chad Basin area of Maiduguri informed the police that his 7-year-old son had been abducted the previous day at about 6:40 p.m by unidentified persons.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the kidnappers later contacted the child’s mother using a private phone number and demanded a ransom of N10 million, which was eventually negotiated down to N8 million. The family subsequently paid N1.5 million into a Point of Sale (POS) account provided by the suspects.
“Police detectives, using digital forensic analysis traced the account used to receive the payment to a POS operator identified as Musa Mohammed Bashir, who was arrested. His arrest led to the apprehension of four other suspects – Ali Adam, also known as Abba, 24; Abubakar Sadiq, 29; Abba Goni Abba, 18; and Mohammed Musa, also known as Ale Mamman, 18.” The statement revealed.
The police said the kidnapped boy was rescued unharmed, taken to the hospital for medical evaluation, and later reunited with his family. Officers also recovered the N1.5 million ransom earlier paid to the suspects.
The Commissioner of Police in Borno State, Naziru Abdulmajid, commended the detectives for the swift operation. He also urged members of the public to remain vigilant and provide timely and credible information to security agencies for crime prevention and investigation.
