By our reporters
Four high-ranking police officers, a bank manager, and a lawyer have been arrested in Kano for alleged kidnapping and robbery of the N370 million.
This paper reliably gathered that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Muhammad Alkali had to wade into the case because of the nature of the crimes, which involved abduction and fraud.
One of the officers arrested is the leader of the Anti-Vice Unit under the Crime Investigation Department (CID), CSP Buba, who allegedly connived with three other officers, a lawyer, a bank manager, and and the mastermind of the syndicate, Ali Zaki to dupe some Kano-based Bureau De Change operators the large amount of cash.
An investigation by SAHELIAN TIMES revealed that Zaki, first approached the BDC operators and lured them to the bank manager’s office at the Murtala Muhammad Way branch of FCMB, where they sealed an agreement, where it was agreed that they would receive the US Dollars equivalent of N370 million at the official rate.
“I IBM SAS and Usman Yusuf have entered into an agreement with a certain Mr. Abdul Director, Mr. Ka’ab and Mr. Murtala on this day, 23 April, 2022. To provide US Dollars to the sum of 750,000, at the rate of N430 which is equivalent to N322,500,000.
“The Dollars will be made available 72 hours after naira deposit. A bank account will be provided by the manager, Abdulkadir Zaki for which the naira equivalent will be deposited,” the agreement reads.
This agreement was done in the presence of Abdul Director, Ka’ab, and Murtala.
Before paying the balance, one of the parties told SAHELIAN TIMES that they deposited N100 million into the manager’s personal account.
“After paying the stated amount and balancing it, we walked to the branch manager’s office, where he handed us some US Dollar notes in a bag,” he said.
However, according to him, when the money was issued, the bank manager requested that it should not be counted in his bank since he had illegally issued it to them.
“Ali intervened and ordered they go to his room in the Tahir Guest Palace and count the money there,” the victim explained.
Unknown to the operators, Ali had already planned how the police would arrest them before they arrived at the hotel.
“The police pulled us over under the Murtala Muhammad bridge and demanded to search us; and when they found the money, they got all of us arrested,”he added.
Instead of transporting them to the Kano police command’s headquarters, the officers took them to an unknown location on Zaria Road, Kano, where they threatened them.
SAHALIAN TIMES gathered that the police officers ordered all of the operators to go, but one Abdulrazaq insisted that he either got his money back or die in the process.
“They stayed in that situation from four in the evening till two in the morning,” the insider noted.
All of the police officers left as a result of Abdulrazaq’s defiance, leaving him with only Usman.
“Abdulrazaq sought the assistance of passers-by around 2 a.m., and luckily for him, a separate team of police officers came to his aid,” the source added.
Abdulrazaq and Usman were both taken to the Badawa Police Command before the case was transferred to the State Police headquarters in Bompai.
According to a recorded phone conversation obtained by SAHELIAN TIMES, the infamous fraudster Zaki called the officers and briefed them on the mission.
He, however, told them that their mission was to confiscate N50 million from the youngsters, and that he would get N20 million out from it as their reward.
Following a series of haggling and talks, the fraudster and the police officer struck a deal, with Zaki describing the vehicle he would use for the operation.
However, despite the trove of evidence, it took the involvement of the IGP to transfer the case to Abuja.
