The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has arrested members of a suspected “one chance” kidnapping and robbery syndicate, recovering the ₦8.8 million ransom the gang allegedly extorted from a female victim in Abuja.
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Commissioner of Police Ahmed Sanusi revealed that the command’s tracking unit dismantled the gang following intensive surveillance, which led to the arrest of the suspects and the recovery of the entire ransom amount.
According to the police, the victim was abducted after boarding a vehicle operated by the syndicate. The kidnappers initially demanded a much larger sum before eventually extracting ₦8.8 million from her family and releasing her.
SP Josephine Adeh, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, stated during the briefing that the command has stepped up efforts to eradicate “one chance” offences in response to orders from the commissioner of police.
He said, “Like you all know, FCT residents have been battling with issues of one-chance activities within the FCT and the Commissioner of Police has charged all the additional police officers to ensure that they bring an end to one-chance activities.”
Speaking on the development, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer Josephine Adeh, the command swiftly deployed its tracking unit to monitor the kidnappers’ communications after receiving a distress call, tracing their phone lines as they negotiated with the victim’s family.
“So on Saturday… we received a distress call that a certain young lady was being abducted by this particular gang. Our CP tracking unit started tracking the phone of the victim that was being used to contact the family,” she said.
The police said investigations revealed that the gang deliberately targeted women. According to Adeh, “They will tell you they picked mostly women because women don’t struggle.”
Backstory…
The arrest comes amid growing concern over the resurgence of “one chance” kidnappings across the Federal Capital Territory, where unsuspecting commuters have increasingly fallen victim to criminal gangs posing as commercial transport operators.
In recent months, the FCT Police Command has recorded several arrests linked to these syndicates following a surge in reports of passengers being abducted, robbed, and forced to transfer large sums of money from their bank accounts while in captivity.
Many victims have also been assaulted or abandoned on the outskirts of Abuja after their families yielded to ransom demands.
The rising incidents have prompted repeated security advisories from the police, urging residents to avoid boarding unregistered vehicles, especially at night, while intelligence-led operations have been intensified across identified hotspots.
Public anxiety has also grown following viral accounts shared by survivors on social media, with many calling for stricter regulation of commercial transport and stronger law enforcement.
Read Also: Wike announced plans to end “One-Chance” in Abuja, and approved the bus terminal.
