Kamal Bala Yunusa, 23, has been arrested by the Katsina State Police Command in connection with alleged kidnap of his three-year-old nephew.
The victim’s mother and Kamal are reportedly of the same parents.
According to the command, the child was rescued from a hotel in Katsina, where he had been drugged with “a cough mixture,” before the police revived him in a hospital at about 3 am on Friday.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Salisu Agaisa, told journalists during a parade of Kamal and another suspect, Muhammed Abubakar Sadiq, on Friday evening, that both suspects, along with two other suspects, Abubakar Idris and Dabo Muhammed, said to be in Kaduna, “conspired to kidnap the child for a ransom of N4m from Tundun Wada area in Kaduna.”
The suspects were also accused of stealing the Peugeot 407 with which they allegedly ferried the victim from Kaduna.
Kamal said his intention was to sell the car for N700,000, but that he only brought the toddler and the other suspects to Katsina to divert attention from his main intention.
According to the command, efforts were being made by the police to return the boy to Kaduna.
