The Egyptian Police have arrested the lead negotiator between the terrorists and passengers kidnapped from the attacked Abuja-Kaduna train, Alhaji Tukur Mamu.
The terrorists’ negotiator was said to have been arrested in Egypt alongside his family members. Mamu was said to be on his way to Saudi Arabia for the lesser Hajj when he was detained at the Cairo International Airport.
Efforts by our correspondent to reach out to Mamu through phone calls and text messages proved abortive as a woman was heard speaking when a call got through to his line.
Meanwhile, Mamu’s arrest was coming a few days after the All Progressives Congress vice-presidential candidate, Kashim Shettima, visited the publisher and Sheikh Gumi in Kaduna.
The terrorists planted explosive devices along the rail track and when the train approached the point, the device exploded, causing the train to derail, leading to the death of eight passengers.
A day after the attack, another passenger who suffered from a gunshot wound died, making it nine, the total number of those killed in the attack.
From the manifest received by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, 398 passengers bought tickets but 362 were validated as having bought tickets. Over 60 passengers are still in the kidnappers’ den and have spent over 50 days in captivity.
After the abduction, the bandits threatened to commence the killing of abducted passengers in their custody if the Federal Government failed to meet their demands within seven days.
Parts of the demands were the unconditional release of their detained children held in an orphanage home in Adamawa State under the strict supervision of the Nigerian Army as well as the release of their detained comrades at arm.
The terrorists also disclosed that the suspended train service by the Nigerian Railway Corporation slated for May 23 on the Abuja-Kaduna route was a result of their threat to the government.
According to the bandits, the government is not sincere with the negotiation, warning that unless their detained children, forcefully taken away by security operatives from their wives in Nasarawa State and detained in Adamawa State, are released, none of the kidnapped passengers will come out alive.
