The police command in Kwara has arrested two foreign nationals identified as Yakubu Ismaila and Hadiza Kosia, both from the Republic of Togo, and recovered a mobile phone allegedly used to carry out an attempted kidnapping and extortion.

A statement on Thursday, the command’s spokesperson, Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, said a resident of Okuta, identified as S. Ismaila, reported receiving threatening phone calls from unknown persons demanding ₦22 million to prevent his planned abduction.

“The operation followed a report received at the Okuta Police Division from one S. Ismaila of Okuta, who reported that he had received a series of threatening telephone calls from an anonymous caller demanding the sum of N22 million to avert his planned abduction,” she said .

According to the police spokesperson, the caller also threatened to kidnap the complainant and kill his younger brother, Musa Ismaila, if the demand was not met.

Ms Ejire-Adeyemi said police operatives immediately launched an intelligence-driven operation after receiving the report.

“In collaboration with the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and leveraging technical support, operatives swiftly tracked and arrested two suspects identified as Yakubu Ismaila (M) and Hadiza Kosia (F), both nationals of the Republic of Togo,” she said.

She said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects were directly linked to the alleged criminal conspiracy.

“During interrogation, both suspects confessed to their involvement in the attempted kidnapping and extortion plot. A mobile phone used to issue the threatening calls was recovered from one of the suspects and has been taken into police custody as a critical exhibit,” she said.