Nigeria Police has arrested eight suspects in connection with the recent kidnappings and armed robbery along the Kaduna, Abuja and Kano highways.

Acccording to the Police, the suspects are: Lawal Tukur, leader of the gang, Sulaiman Sani, principal suspect, Abubakar Ahmad, Abubakar Adamu, Yahaya Musa, Kabiru Bala, Rufai Tukur, and Shehu Audi.

Force Police Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, said this while addressing newsmen on the arrest of the suspects in Abuja, saying items recovered from them include: two AK 47 Rifles; three pairs of suspected fake military uniforms; cutlasses motorcycle; four cell phones and a Shedda cloth belonging to some of the victims.

Moshood, a Deputy Commissioner of Police said the suspects were responsible for the killing of Professor Mohammed Othman, Director, National Agricultural Research Extensions and Liaison Services, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

He said they were also responsible for the Kidnap of Rahinatu Shehu, Aisha Sani and her seven-month old baby at their residence in Mararaba Guga town, Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

According to him, the arrest followed the directive of the Inspector-General of Police for a discreet investigation into the incidents and the arrest of the perpetrators to bring them to justice.

He said the Intelligence Response Team of the force had engaged the suspects in a shootout for several hours before arresting them and rescuing six victims from them.

Moshood said all Police Mobile Force, Units in MOPOL One Kaduna, MOPOL Forty-seven Zaria and MOPOL Sixty-one Kafanchan on special duties outside the state, had been ordered by the Inspector-General of Police to return to Kaduna State to beef-up security, especially on Kaduna-Abuja highway and other flashpoints in the area.

He said all the suspects confessed to the various criminal roles they played in the commission of the crimes, saying investigation was in progress and effort was being intensified to arrest other suspects still at large.

Moshood said they would all be arraigned in court on completion of investigation, saying the Inspector-General of Police had ordered additional deployment of police personnel to the Abuja-Kaduna and Kaduna-Kano highways to restore safety and normalcy.

In a related development, Moshood said normalcy had been restored with the additional deployment of personnel after the July twenty-four attack on Kodi village in Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara, saying the Force was already embarking on Police Crime Prevention, Visibility and Confidence Building Patrols.

He said the people in the affected Villages had started returned to their homes, saying thirty-five suspects had been arrested in connection with the attacks, and that six AK 47 Rifles; 15 locally fabricated guns; 183 AK47 ammunition and seven live cartridges were recovered from them.

The Image Maker said all the suspects had made useful statements to the police investigators and confessed to the killings in the affected villages.