18-yr-old kidnaps, kills 3-yr-old cousin in Katsina

An 18-year-old man, Aminu Ali, has been arrested by the Katsina State Police Command for allegedly kidnapping and killing his 3-year-old cousin identified as Amina Ali.

According to the police in a statement on Wednesday, the suspect, alongside two other teenagers including a girl, had reportedly abducted the deceased in Dutsinma town in Dutsinma Local Government Area of the state on June 10, while the body of the toddler was discovered in a neighborhood house concealed in a chair.

While narrating his ordeal at the State Police Command headquarters in Katsina, the father of the murdered girl, Tukur Dan Ali, said his nephew, Aminu, had earlier approached him with a letter presumed from his daughter’s kidnappers demanding for a ransom of N2m to avoid her being killed.

“My nephew, Aminu, approached me with a letter and said it was from the kidnappers.

“In the letter, the purported kidnappers said Amina was still alive but if I failed to provide N2 million, they would kill her,” Dan Ali said.

Read also: Katsina police arrests 13-year-old for allegedly killing suspected bandits

The bereaved father added that he took the letter to the police and the prime suspect was invited to explain how he came about the letter, and after a thorough interrogation, he confessed to the crime.

On how the corpse of his daughter was discovered, Dan Ali said:

“After killing my daughter, Aminu and his gang dumped her body in the house of another relative.

“When we entered the house, there was a noticeable stench but as we searched from one room to another, we found where the odour was coming from. When we moved in, we found Amina’s dead body stuck in a three sitter,” he said.

The spokesman for the Katsina State Police, SP Gambo Isah who confirmed the incident, said the case has been transferred to the State Command for proper investigation, after which Aminu and his two accomplices would be charged to court soon.

By Isaac Dachen…

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