By Ifeanyi Okolie

Two brothers, Modu Bakura and Adam Bakura, have been arrested by police operatives for kidnapping and killing a 10-year-old boy in Maiduguri, Borno State, when his father could not pay the ransom demanded.

Police authorities in Abuja, yesterday, disclosed that the suspects were trailed and arrested in Custom area of Maiduguri and Monguno Town, after deployment of operatives of the Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, when pictures of the mutilated body of the boy went viral on the social media.

Vanguard gathered that the boy was kidnapped on January 14 by the brothers, who contacted his father and demanded a ransom of N10 million for his release.

The IRT operatives, led by ACP Abba Kyari, tracked a mobile phone used by the gang for the ransom negotiation to Customs area of Maiduguri and subsequently arrested Modu Bakura, who led the operatives to Mugono Town, a stronghold of the Boko Haram, which is located 200 kilometres from Maiduguri, where his brother was picked up.

When interrogated, Adam Bakura, who was said to be the prime suspect, confessed that they killed their victim because he knew them.

According to him, “we live in the same street in Maiduguri and the boy knows me very well. After we kidnapped him, we thought his father was going to pay us and when he failed to pay us, we killed him so as not to reveal our identities to the police.”

While confirming the report, the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Moshod Jimoh, said the suspects will be charged to court at the completion of investigation.