Nigerian Police Arrest Transnational Kidnappers Of Rescued American, Phillippe Walton

The Nigerian Police have arrested two members of a trans-national kidnap syndicate involved in the kidnap of an American Citizen, Philippe Walton.

BIGPENNGR.COM reports that Mr. Walton was abducted on 28th October, 2020 at his farm in Masalata Village, Republic of Niger.

He was later rescued by the US elite SEAL Team Six which carried out the rescue mission and killed all but one of the captors in Borno state, according to officials with direct knowledge about the operation.

However, the Nigerian Police Force, in a statement by Force Public Relation Officer, DSP Frank Mba, on Thursday, December 10, 2020, said that the the two (2) suspects – members of a 15-man kidnap gang of Nigerian/Nigerien extraction, have been arrested.

According to him, the gang led by Barte Dan Alhaji and Dan Buda – were arrested following a special intelligence-led operation aimed at arresting the criminal gang, disrupting and halting other criminal activities by them.

He mentioned the suspects to include, Aliyu Abdullahi ‘m’ 21yrs a.k.a Mallam and Aliyu Umaru ‘m’ 23yrs a.k.a Kwatte Kusu, both from Sokoto State.

He said that the suspects were arrested on 25th November, 2020.

According to him, investigations by the Intelligence Response Team IRT revealed that the gang was plotting other abductions to avenge the death of their cohorts – 4 Nigeriens and 2 Nigerians who died during the rescue operations.

He, therefore, said that the Force Headquarters is collaborating with its Nigerien counterpart in the investigations to apprehend other members of the transnational syndicate currently at large.

Meanwhile, as part of efforts at tackling transnational crimes, the Inspector General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, is working in concert with other members of the West African Police Chiefs Organization (WAPCO) to deepen intelligence sharing amongst security agencies in the ECOWAS sub-region.

The IGP has also directed that security be strengthen along the international borders of member States.

The suspects will be arraigned in court on completion of investigations, Mba said.