A man long declared wanted by security operatives over his alleged involvement in a series of kidnappings was arrested at the Abuja airport on Sunday while preparing to depart for Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
The suspect, identified as Yahaya Zango, was apprehended at the Hajj camp located at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport during routine screening of pilgrims. Operatives from the Department of State Services (DSS) intercepted him after he presented his passport for travel clearance.
“It was this afternoon during the screening at the hajj camp in the airport when the DSS operatives apprehended him and whisked him away,” a security source told reporters.
Zango, a resident of Paikon-Kore in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), had reportedly been on the run for months following his alleged role in numerous kidnapping operations across the region.
A senior official from the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, who asked not to be named, confirmed the arrest but declined to offer more details on the suspect’s registration status for the Hajj.
Security sources say Zango’s name had been flagged on a list of fugitives under surveillance, but he still managed to blend in with other pilgrims hoping to travel for the religious exercise.
So far, the DSS has made no public statement regarding the arrest, leaving the public guessing about the next line of action.
This incident underscores the growing frustration among Nigerians over how easily high-profile suspects exploit loopholes in the system to evade justice. That Zango came so close to boarding a flight out of the country raises questions about the competence or complicity of agencies tasked with securing Nigeria’s borders.
In the Northeast, Boko Haram and its affiliate ISWAP have sustained a brutal insurgency for over a decade, leading to massive casualties, displacement, and a shattered local economy. In the Northwest and North-Central areas, bandits operate freely, engaging in mass abductions, cattle rustling, and extortion, often from fortified hideouts in forests and mountainous terrain.
Kidnapping has become a national emergency, spreading well beyond the northern regions to the South and Middle Belt. From schoolchildren to civil servants, no one is spared.
Despite billions allocated annually to defense and security, the average Nigerian continues to live in fear, while the so-called “wanted” walk among the crowds at airports, undetected until fate intervenes
