Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force in the Federal Capital Territory have rescued a 36-year-old woman who was allegedly kept in chains inside a locked room in Abuja for more than a year, while also arresting four suspects linked to kidnapping logistics and intelligence support networks operating within the territory.
The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Sanusi, disclosed this during a briefing at the Command Headquarters in Abuja, where he outlined recent operations targeting violent crime and related networks.
The rescued woman, identified as Grace Aniekuoku, was discovered in a residential building in the Katampe area after police received a distress report on June 12. Officers from the Katampe Division were deployed to the location, where they were initially denied access by the suspect identified as her brother, Chinedu Aniekuoku.
Police said the suspect resisted entry, but officers eventually forced their way into the room and found the woman chained and in a weakened condition. She was immediately taken to a medical facility for treatment.
Authorities stated that she had been confined for about 16 months under harsh conditions. Preliminary investigation indicated that the confinement followed an incident in which her son was allegedly taken away about two years earlier, after which she was reportedly kept in captivity to prevent her from demanding information about the child’s whereabouts. Efforts are ongoing to trace the missing child.
The suspect was arrested at the scene and remains in custody pending prosecution.
In a separate operation, the police arrested four individuals identified as Yahaya Abdullahi, Muhammed Yunusa, Hauwa Shafiu, and Shamsudeen Mustapha, suspected of acting as informants and logistics suppliers for kidnapping groups operating in and around Abuja.
According to the Command, the arrests followed intelligence-driven operations in the Paze-Byazhin area on June 11, linked to earlier anti-kidnapping activities in the FCT. Investigators said the suspects allegedly lived within communities while gathering information and supporting criminal operations targeting residents and locations.
Police also alleged that one of the suspects, Hauwa Shafiu, was involved in providing food and other logistics for kidnappers and victims in captivity. She was reportedly pregnant at the time of arrest and later gave birth while in custody, with both mother and child receiving medical care.
Items recovered during the operations include motorcycles, quantities of tramadol, cash, mobile phones, a POS machine, cooking utensils, chains, and a padlock believed to have been used in the confinement of the rescued woman.
The police said investigations are ongoing into both cases, including efforts to locate the missing child and identify additional members of the suspected criminal network. The Command urged residents to continue providing credible information to assist security operations across the Federal Capital Territory.
