DSS arrests wanted kidnapper during screening at Sokoto Hajj camp

Eagle-eyed operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) in a well-coordinated covert operation have arrested two high-profile suspected kidnap kingpins as they made to depart Nigeria for Saudi Arabia to observe the holy pilgrimage.

It was reported on Sunday that suspected kingpin Yahaya Yakubu, who lives in Paikon – Kore village in Gwagwalada area council of the FCT, was nabbed during screening at the Abuja Hajj camp. 

He presented his passport alongside other Muslim travellers who were on their way to observe this year's hajj when the DSS operatives arrived and whisked him away.

Zamfara-born Sani Aliyu Galadi was arrested nearly 750 kilometres away, at the Sokoto Hajj camp. 

Security sources disclosed that the suspected kidnap kingpins had been on the DSS radar for over a year, and that screening at Hajj camps in different parts of the country offered the operatives the opportunity to arrest them. 

 According to the security sources, Aliyu alias Mai Boxer, who is suspected to be responsible for attacks by bandits in the Sokoto- Zamfara axis, was oblivious of the fact that DSS officers were still on the lookout for them.

The source added that Aliyu has been flown from Sokoto to the DSS headquarters in Abuja.