Taraba state kidnap kingpin, Hamisu Bala popularly known as Wadume, has been rearrested, Nigerian Police headquarters confirmed on Tuesday.
This is even as the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Mohammed Adamu, commended the police operatives for their painstaking efforts in the re-arrest of alleged notorious kidnap kingpin.
The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), DCP Frank Mba, disclosed this on Tuesday in a statement in Abuja.
He said Wadume was re-arrested in the late hours of Monday in his hideout at Layin Mai Allo Hotoro area of Kano State.
Mba said the police had been on massive manhunt for the suspect since Aug. 6.
He said the manhunt followed the incident in Ibi, Taraba that led to the killing of three police officers and two civilians as well as injuring of five others.
Mba said the suspect, who was appropriately restrained at the time of the first arrest, was subsequently released by his “rescuers”.
The FPRO said the IGP had expressed his profound gratitude to Nigerians for their show of love and empathy to the Force and the families of the murdered officers and civilians.
“The re-arrest of Wadume, will help in bringing answers to the numerous but hitherto unanswered questions touching on the incident and the larger criminal enterprise of the suspect,” Mba quoted the IGP as saying.
Wadume’s escape after an attack on his police captors by soldiers and a village mob along Ibi-Wukari road in Taraba state on Aug. 6 sparked off massive public reactions and led to the constitution of a special investigative panel.
The investigation panel, which is working with presidential authority, was initially scheduled to conclude its findings last week but was given two additional weeks.