The Nigerian Police Force (NPF) yesterday paraded 13 suspects over the kidnapping of Alhaji Musa Umar Daura, the Magajin Garin Daura.

The Magajin Gari, who was abducted by gunmen on May 1 in Daura, was rescued on July 2 in Kano.

The 13 suspects were paraded alongside 27 others. They were arrested by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Special Tactical Squad (STS), under operation Puff Adder, set up to curb kidnapping and banditry across the country.

The spokesman of the Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Frank Mba, said 13 of the suspects were directly involved with the kidnap of the Magagin Garin Daura.

The police said the kidnappers asked for a ransom of $30m for the release of the district head, but no money was paid to them before his rescue.

Mba said the suspects are also all-male within an active age bracket between 20 and 46 years old, adding that, the police discovered that one of the suspects is from Niger Republic.

He further said the police discovered that the kidnap was powered by a local collaborator, with five of the suspects from Katsina State, and four specifically from Daura. He said out of the 13 suspects, two are from Kano, where the district head was rescued.

He said the suspects include: Aminu Saleh, Yusuf Dahiru, Abdullah Mohammed, Bilal Yusuf, Sarfilu Abdu, Dahiru Musa, Tukur Bukar, Muhammed Saidu, Abubakar Adamu, Mustapha Zakariyya, Ibrahim Mohammed and Bako Mustapha.

Mba said a total of nine Ak47 rifles were recovered from the suspects paraded yesterday, with six other assorted guns, including 383 round of ammunition of different calibre.

He added that during the operation that led to the rescue of the district head, the police also recovered military-grade hand grenades and chemicals for making improvised explosive devices.

The Police also exhibited a laptop computer, which Mba said contained video instructions on bomb-making and manuals on tactical manoeuvres in gunfighting.

Daily Trust also gathered from sources that the suspects belong to a breakaway faction of Boko Haram Terrorist group known as “Jama’atu Ansaarul Muslimeen fii Bilaadis Sudan.”

It was learnt they were also responsible for the recent kidnaping and killing of expatriates who own and work in construction companies in Nigeria.

Fielding questions from journalists, two of the kidnappers, who admitted their involvement in the crime, said they recently returned from Libya where they stayed for more than six months learning weapons handling, musketry and how to disarm security personnel.

Another suspect said he led three others to kidnap the Magajin Gari and remained with him until his rescue.