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The Department of State Security (DSS) has apprehended two suspected kidnapping ringleaders who were attempting to leave Nigeria for Saudi Arabia under the guise of participating in the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The arrests took place during routine screenings at Hajj camps in Abuja and Sokoto, marking the culmination of a year-long surveillance effort by the security agency.
According to security sources, the suspects—identified as Yahaya Yakubu and Sani Aliyu Galadi—had been under DSS watch for over a year. Yakubu, who resides in Paikon-Kore village in Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), was arrested at the Abuja Hajj camp. Meanwhile, Galadi, reportedly a native of Zamfara State and known by the alias “Mai Boxer,” was apprehended nearly 750 kilometers away at the Sokoto Hajj camp.
“It was a well-coordinated, covert operation,” a security source revealed. “The DSS operatives identified them during the screening process and moved in swiftly. The suspects were completely unaware that they were still being tracked.” Galadi is believed to have ties to a series of violent bandit attacks across the Sokoto-Zamfara axis.
Following his arrest, Galadi was immediately flown to the DSS headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation. The successful operation underscores the DSS’s ongoing efforts to dismantle criminal networks posing threats to national security, even as such individuals attempt to evade justice under religious cover.
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