A one million naira bribe offered to a police Divisional Officer by a suspected bandit after his arrest in a hotel in Kaduna Community was rejected by the officer.

BEYOND AFRICA gathered that the bribe was offered by the bandit out of the ransom recovered from him by the police at a hotel in Tafa community.

The state Police Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, on Thursday, said the arrest was made on the 19th of January, 2024.

The spokesperson said credible information was received by the divisional headquarters regarding the presence of the suspected person at Easyway Hotel in Tafa town.

He explained that their Operatives led by the Divisional Police Officer stormed the hotel and arrested a certain 28-year-old Bello Muhammad from Zamfara State and recovered the sum of N2,350,000:00, suspected to be proceeds of kidnapping.

He said during the investigation, the suspect admitted to being a kidnapper who operates with his gang around Kagarko forest in Kaduna.

ASP Mansir said the aforementioned sum is the suspect’s own share of a ransom collected, adding that a check of his mobile phone corroborated the suspect’s confession as pictures of him brandishing an AK47 rifle in a forest were retrieved.

“The said suspect Bello Muhammad thus offered a million naira backhander to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) to stop him from furthering the investigation, which the Police Officer forthwith rejected. The investigation is still ongoing as the suspect is assisting the Police with vital information,” he said.

The Commissioner of Police Kaduna State Command, CP A.D Ali, while praising the Tafa Division’s Operatives, urged them and others not to dwindle but to increase the tempo until crimes and criminality are reduced minimally.