‘Bandits’ negotiator nabbed over N2bn ransom racketeering’

Kaduna-based publisher, Tukur Mamu, was arrested on Tuesday by security operatives in Cairo, Egypt for his alleged involvement in collecting ransom and taking same to terrorists in exchange for kidnapped victims.

Some of the security sources said beyond his relationship with insurgents in Nigeria, Mamu was also arrested because of his “Strong ties with a terror group in Sinai area in Egypt.”

Sinai Peninsula is the northeastern extremity of Egypt and adjoins Israel and the Gaza Strip on the east.

Like in Nigeria, despite the decrease in the frequency of attacks in recent years, militants remain active and pose a serious threat to Egyptian security operatives and other symbols of Sinai.

Mamu yesterday denied wrongdoing saying he was on a legitimate journey to Saudi Arabia.

The Kaduna-based publisher, who was involved in the controversial negotiations that led to the release of several abducted passengers of the March 28 Abuja-Kaduna train attack, was arrested together with his family by operatives of the Department of State Services shortly after he was repatriated to Nigeria from Egypt.

He was arrested and whisked away by security operatives shortly after the Egypt Airline, which returned him from Cairo touched down at the Malam Aminu Kano International Airport at 1:55pm.

According to Daily Trust, family sources said Mamu, who was on his way to Saudi Arabia for lesser Hajj was travelling alongside his two wives; Fatima Bashir Mamu and Aisha Salisu Mamu as well as his eldest son, Faisal Tukur Mamu and his brother-in-law Ibrahim Hassan Tinja.

Nigerian authorities have been accused of not doing enough to secure the release of kidnapping victims whenever such incidents occur, a development that makes it necessary for desperate families to devise other means, including ransom payments to liberate their loved ones for fear of being killed.

And this is what brought Mamu to the limelight as he openly and severally declared that he secured the release of most of the train victims even though he persistently denied collecting ransom from families of the victims and taking them to the terrorists.

The Department of State Services said yesterday that Mamu is in its custody.

The spokesman for the agency, Peter Afunanya, confirmed this in a statement.

“The DSS has been inundated with enquires in respect of the arrest or otherwise of Tukur Manu, the self-acclaimed Kaduna train hostage negotiator. This is to confirm that Manu, as a person of interest, was intercepted by Nigeria’s foreign partners in Cairo, Egypt on 6th September 2022 while on his way to Saudi Arabia. He has since been returned to the country, today, 7th September 2022 and taken into the Service’s custody.

“The act followed a request by Nigeria’s military, law enforcement and intelligence community to their foreign partners to bring back Manu to the country to answer critical questions on ongoing investigations relating to some security matters in parts of the country. The public may wish to note that the law will appropriately take its course,” he said.

A source in one of the intelligence outfits in Nigeria said Mamu’s arrest was beyond his activities in Nigeria.

“He was arrested in Egypt based on Advance Passenger Information because he came under international security scrutiny following his activities here at home and beyond the shores of Nigeria shortly after the Kaduna train attack.

“I can assure you that Mamu has high linkage with terror groups in Egypt, especially in Sinai and by extension Libya, the Sahel and other parts of West Africa on this side, and the middle- east on the other side.

“He has collected over N2bn in ransom for terrorists with some of the payments made in US dollars by desperate families and negotiated the release of their loved ones…We have been monitoring all his activities and evidence abound to hold him to account,” he said.