A 50-year-old informant, Ado Haruna, has been arrested for conspiring with bandits to kidnap his nephew, Alhaji Bashiru Anas, and his family in Zaria, Kaduna State.

Despite facilitating the abduction that led to a ransom payment of N13 million, four new motorcycles, and N300,000 worth of Airtel recharge cards, Haruna received only N200,000 as his reward.

The IGP Intelligence Response Team (IRT) operatives apprehended Haruna, who was among the criminal suspects paraded in Abuja by the Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi.

Haruna, a resident of Angwa Kanawa Dutse Abba, was reported to have led three bandits—Shago Yaro, Tanimu Ayuba, and Lamido Dantajiri—to his nephew’s house, posing as a victim.

On the night of the attack, the bandits stormed Alhaji Anas’ residence at about 1am, only to find that he was not at home. Undeterred, they abducted his two wives, three children, younger brother, and his brother’s wife. The victims were held in captivity for 60 days in Buruku Sabo Birni, where negotiations for their release took place.

Confirming his role in the crime, Haruna admitted, “I’m into farming and vigilante work. It is true that I was the one who took bandits to Alhaji Anas’ house. Anas is my nephew; my elder sister’s son. I knew only one of the bandits who asked me to show them my nephew’s house.”

He continued, “I led the bandits to his house but didn’t let him see me. We were living in the same community. They did not see Anas, so they took his wife and children. For the 60 days his family was in the bush, I was using Alhaji Anas’ phone to communicate with the bandits.

“The bandits were paid over N10 million as ransom, as I was made to know, but I was given N200,000 as my share. I bought maize with the money given to me.”

Haruna expressed surprise at his arrest, stating, “I didn’t know how the police got information about my involvement. I just saw them at my home. Life pushed me into crime.”

Alongside Haruna, police operatives also arrested Nyali Hassan, a notorious kidnapper linked to several abductions in Kano and Kaduna States.

Acting on intelligence reports, IRT operatives traced Hassan to Stara Rago in Kano, where he was arrested with an AK-47 rifle (breech number 6047) and two empty magazines.

During interrogation, Hassan confessed to being a member of a six-man gang specialising in kidnappings across Makarfi, Bari, Yankin Rago, and Beli towns. He identified his accomplices as Kawuje, Moude, Babagida, Kabiru, and Umar, revealing that Umar was still at large and in possession of two additional AK-47 rifles.

Recounting his criminal activities, Hassan, a 35-year-old father of ten, said, “I have two wives and 10 children. I’m into farming and cattle rearing, but I added kidnapping to it. I was carrying out the operations in Kano. I started a year ago. I have kidnapped eight people but got money from five of them. I collected between N1 million and N10 million as ransom. Some of the victims escaped while those guarding them slept off. I was targeting the rich people.”

Detailing their modus operandi, he explained, “We usually carried out our operations by laying ambush for victims on the road or visiting their homes. We never killed any of our potential victims.”

Hassan also shared how he was influenced into crime, “I know that the Qur’an does not support crime, but I’ll say that my friends misled me. They would be spending so much money whenever we were at a gathering, so I decided to join them.”

He disclosed that he bought a pickup van from his share of the proceeds and had inherited 20 cows from his late father, “My friend, Umar, who is also one of the gang members, taught me how to shoot with an AK-47 rifle,” he added.

The FPRO, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, assured that security operatives were intensifying efforts to apprehend the remaining gang members and recover their weapons.

South African-owned mobile telecommunications provider, MTN Group announced that it has concluded the sale of its Guinea operations to the State of Guinea, marking its final exit from the market.

According to a statement from the Group, the sale was concluded on December 30, 2024, saying the transaction aligns with its focus on portfolio optimisation and simplification which is part of its Ambition 2025 strategy.

MTN Group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita while commenting on the sale of the business stated, “This milestone marks a new phase for MTN Guinea-Conakry under local ownership, and MTN thanks the staff, customers, regulators and broader stakeholders in Guinea for the support during the time MTN has been operational in the country.

“Concluding this transaction is in line with the strategy to simplify the portfolio and allocating capital to markets where we can make a difference as MTN and deliver long-term growth and returns.”

MTN’s decision to exit the Guinea market stems from its assessment of how the portfolio fits within its risk management framework.

Speaking to journalists in Johannesburg in August 2024, Mupita explained the group’s rationale for disposing of operations in Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau.

“Given our risk management framework and the things we need, some markets are very difficult. We’re not the best owners of those businesses because they’re subscale or they’re small, and they are not going to be able to fund their own growth,” Mupita shared in remarks reported by Connecting Africa.

He elaborated that the group evaluates each market’s ability to fund its growth sustainably, adding that the moment a business sustainably cannot fund its own growth for whatever reason, “we have to assess portfolio fit yes or no.”

He noted that they were difficult decisions to make because “they involve colleagues, but they are necessary all the same.”

For Guinea-Conakry and Guinea-Bissau, the group determined that even with significant growth in revenue or profits, MTN was not the best owner of these operations.

“We looked at them and said, even if they triple their revenue or their profits, are we the best owners of these businesses? And the answer was no, so we said let’s engage with third parties,” Mupita stated.