20-year-old man held for kidnap and murder of police officer’s son
In connection with the kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Christopher Bala in Magama town, Gumau Local Government Area, the state’s Bauchi State Police Command has detained a suspect.
The victim, who was allegedly kidnapped on March 21, 2024, while running errands, is the son of Gumau Division police officer ASP Bala Yarima.
In a statement released on Thursday, March 28, the Command spokesman, SP Ahmed Wakil, stated that the Police swiftly moved to apprehend the abductors after receiving a distress call regarding Christopher’s kidnapping.
It was reported that Rabi’u Ibrahim, the suspect, had admitted to the crime. Ibrahim was recognised during the preliminary investigation.
He also confessed to collecting N200,000 ransom from ASP Yarima.
Ibrahim reportedly admitted to strangling Christopher out of fear of being recognised and burying the body in a shallow grave at Bazale village hill.
The statement said: “He admitted that, fearing that Christopher recognised him, he went ahead to strangle the 12-year-old victim and buried the body in a shallow grave at Bazale village hill.
“Following established procedures, the Bauchi State Police Command exhumed the victim’s remains. A postmortem examination conducted at the General Hospital Toro confirmed the cause of death as strangulation.
“Subsequently, the case has been transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department for a comprehensive investigation, following a directive by the state commissioner of police.”