About 151 days after eight-year-old Asiya Tasi’uAsiya Tasi’u was kidnapped and killed, her body has been found. Her abductor and alleged killer, Habibu Sale, 24, who collected a ransom cash of N500 thousand before killing her has been nabbed by the police in Kano.
Asiya’s father, Tasi’u Muhammed Adamu, 35, said the suspect had kidnapped the deceased on June 6 when she was sent on an errand to her Aunty’s home.
He said his daughter’s abductor had demanded a ransom cash of N10 million from him. They bargained and later settled for N500 thousand. But the suspect killed his daughter after collecting the money.
“I want full justice for my slain daughter,” he said, breaking into tears.
Police spokesman, Abdullahi Haruna, who paraded the suspect, said the deceased’s father had lodged a complaint at the police command on June 6.
The Commissioner of Police, Habu A. Sani, raised a team of anti-kidnappers who had been on the trail of the suspect in Kaduna, Katsina, Jigawa, Abuja and Abba.
It was gathered the phone he used in bargaining for the ransom was tracked by the police, who informed Chikawa community leaders.
The suspect was said to have sold off the handset after the incident. The phone had passed through a third party who gave it to his younger one -a boy.
The boy revealed the source of the phone when he was tracked with the gadget. While tracing, the suspect was invited by the community.
Source said he did not know why he was called, but when he showed up on November 7, he was taken straight to the police command.
Upon interrogation, Sale confessed to the crime and said he used the proceed (N500 thousand) on “gambling, drugs and women.”
DSP Haruna said the suspect took the police and a team of doctors to the shallow grave where he buried his victim, a primary two pupil.
The suspect, however, claimed his victim died with him in a road crash when he was taking her into the bush.
But the police insisted he committed homicide since he was not wounded and could not prove he was involved in an accident.
The deceased’s dad said the suspect killed the minor because he did not want his crime exposed, since the deceased knew him.
Expressing his pain and sadness, Adamu said: “He (suspect) is well known in our village. He also knows all of us, including my late daughter, that’s why he killed her. I want justice for her,” he said.
Police said the suspect will be charged to court at the end of investigation.
