The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command has arrested 12 suspected armed robbers allegedly connected to the killing of Arise News Channel staff member, Somtochukwu Maduagwu, and a security guard, Barnabas Danlami, during a robbery at Unique Apartments in Gishiri Village, Katampe District, Abuja.
The arrests followed a directive from the Commissioner of Police, FCT, to swiftly apprehend those behind the September 29, 2025 robbery, which occurred around 3:30 a.m.
Those arrested were identified as Shamsudeen Hassan, Hassan Isah, Abubakar Alkamu (aka Abba), Sani Sirajo (aka Dan Borume), Mashkur Jamilu (aka Abba), Suleiman Badamasi (aka Dan-Sule), Abdulsalam Saleh (aka Na-Durudu), Zaharadeen Muhammad (aka Gwaska), Musa Adamu (aka Musa Hassan), Sumayya Mohammed (aka Baby), Isah Abdulrahman (aka Abbati), and Musa Umar (aka Small).
According to police sources on Thursday, operatives of the Scorpion Squad, led by ACP Victor Godfrey, acting on digital and reconstructive intelligence provided by Giga Forensics, a subsidiary of EIB STRATOC, tracked and apprehended the suspects across multiple locations in the North.
Four of the suspects, Shamsudeen Hassan, Abubakar Alkamu, Sani Sirajo, and another accomplice, were first arrested after detectives tracked mobile phones stolen from the victims.
The command further disclosed that on October 8, its operatives intercepted two additional members of the gang, Musa Umar and Hassan Isah, while they were reportedly on their way to carry out another robbery in the upscale Maitama district.
During interrogation, Hassan confessed to shooting the security guard after he resisted their entry, while Sirajo claimed he struggled with Maduagwu as she tried to escape before she tragically fell from the building.
According to the police, the gang shared about N200,000 each after selling stolen valuables and items recovered from the suspects include a fabricated AK-47 rifle, 36 rounds of 9mm ammunition, a locally made pistol, a pump-action gun, two live cartridges, four mobile phones, two knives, a cutlass, and nine torchlights used during the raid.
“All suspects have admitted to their roles in the crime,” the FCT Police Command said in the statement. “We are withholding their photographs to avoid compromising ongoing efforts to apprehend other accomplices still at large.”
The police assured that investigations remain active, promising to provide further updates as the probe progresses.
