The Edo State Police Command has arrested a 52-year-old Islamic spiritualist, identified as Jubril Ibrahim, and four others over alleged involvement in kidnapping.
The spiritualist and other suspects identified as Ahmadu Suleiman, Mohammed Abubakar, Tukur Adam a.k.a. Dogo, Musa Ibrahim and Iro Ibrahim, were reportedly arrested on August 30, 2026 in Niger State.
The Commissioner of Police, CP, of the Command, Patrick Daaor, said this while parading suspects arrested for various crimes in the state.
Daaor alleged that the suspects had been terrorizing parts of Edo North Senatorial District, particularly the Auchi, Jattu and Okpella axis.
The CP said the spiritualist specialized in preparing charms for suspected kidnappers.
He said the suspects were arrested following the abduction of one Mohammed Tasiu Imokhe and his wife at Jattu, in Etsako West Local Government Area, on August 8, 2026.
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According to the police commissioner, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit and Violent Crime Response Unit swung into action immediately following the reports of the development, taking advantage of technical and actionable intelligence from the Technical Intelligence Unit, TIU, Abuja.
This led to the arrest of Malam Jibril Ibrahim, Mohammed Abubakar, Tukur Adam a.k.a. Dogo, Musa Ibrahim and Iro Ibrahim on 30 August 2026 in Niger State.
The suspects have confessed to the Jattu kidnapping as well as several other kidnapping operations in Edo and Kogi States.
“Based on information from the suspects, operatives later recovered two fake AK-47 rifles, one pump-action rifle, six magazines and 200 rounds of live AK-47 ammunition in the Okpella forest on 1/9/2026.
“Profiling of the suspects and efforts to arrest other members of the gang are underway,” the statement said.
In an interview, spiritualist Jubril Ibrahim denied preparing charms for the suspected kidnappers, saying he prayed for one of them on the instruction of his mother.
“The almajiri, I gather them and I teach them the Qur’an,” the spiritualist said. So, Ahmadu Suleiman’s mother came to me and told me to pray for her son, that he travels a lot, so I should pray for his safe trip to and fro and that is what I have been doing. I pray for a safe trip for him.”
However, he confessed to knowing that one of the suspects, Suleiman, had an AK-47 rifle.
However, 24-year-old Suleiman said he participated in only one operation in Auchi and that he worked with various kidnapping syndicates across the country before returning to his base in Niger State.
“When we reach the community we look for a beautiful house and we shoot into the air and as they scamper for their lives they run out and we hold them and take them to the bush and demand for money,” Suleiman told an interpreter.
He claimed to have collected N1 million from the Auchi operation, adding that it was the only kidnapping operation he had participated in in the area.
He said he also participated in other kidnapping operations in Kogi State and other parts of the country where he got between N500,000 and N700,000.
He said he had never worked with any informant, who only looked out for fancy cars and buildings when they wanted to carry out a kidnapping operation.
