The police in Kano State have confirmed the arrest of eight men and two women for allegedly belonging to a syndicate that specialises in hacking accounts of individuals to withdraw money.

“On July 14, at about 11:50 p.m., a team of policemen led by DSP Kabir Wali, working on credible information arrested the suspects in a hotel in Kano metropolis.

“The suspects are Umar Aminu, Muhammad Muhammad, Kabiru Idris, Salim Sani, Umar Muhammad, Yusuf Ibrahim, Aminu Lawan, Jibril Aliyu, Hauwa Abubakar and Aisha Abubakar.

“They all reside in Sheka quarters, Kano, and were arrested in connection with electronic card-related fraud,” the Kano police spokesperson, DSP Abdullahi Haruna-Kiyawa, disclosed.

He said that the suspects confessed to hacking various individual bank accounts and withdrawing various amounts of money.

The Commissioner of Police, Sama’ila Shu’aibu-Dikko, ordered for discreet investigation into the matter.

He added that the suspects would be charged to court after an investigation is carried out.

In a related development, Mr Haruna-Kiyawa confirmed the arrest of 21 armed robbery suspects, seven kidnap suspects, 23 drug dealers, 18 suspected fraudsters, five vehicle theft suspects, 11 cattle rustlers and 140 notorious thugs (Yan daba).

He said that the suspects were arrested in the 44 local government councils of the state under “clearance operations” to rid the state of all forms of crimes.

The spokesman said that nine locally-made guns, four vehicles and three motorcycles were recovered during the operation.

He said the police also recovered 265 knives, 28 scissors, 80 sharp rods, 145 parcels of dried leaves, 176 mobile phones, six cows and three million naira, among others during the operations.