Two high-profile kidnap suspects were apprehended by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) during a strategic covert operation on Sunday, May 19, 2025, as they attempted to travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The arrests, carried out at separate Hajj camps in Abuja and Sokoto, followed over a year of intelligence gathering and surveillance.
Security sources revealed that the suspects—Yahaya Yakubu and Sani Aliyu Galadi had long been under DSS watch. Their travel plans offered a rare opportunity for coordinated interception during the mandatory screening of pilgrims.
Yakubu, a resident of Paikon-Kore village in the Gwagwalada Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, was arrested at the Abuja Hajj camp. Meanwhile, Galadi, who hails from Zamfara State, was taken into custody approximately 750 kilometers away at the Sokoto Hajj camp.
According to the sources, DSS operatives were able to identify both suspects—referred to as Zango and Aliyu—during routine screening and acted swiftly to arrest them on the spot.
“It was this afternoon during the screening at the hajj camp in airport when the DSS operatives apprehended him and whisked him away,” a source said in reference to Yakubu, who reportedly presented his passport alongside other Muslim pilgrims from Abuja.
Aliyu, also known by the alias Mai Boxer, is believed to be a key figure behind a series of violent bandit operations across the Sokoto-Zamfara axis. Sources stated that both suspects appeared unaware that they were still active targets of the DSS.
An official from the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, who requested anonymity, confirmed Yakubu’s arrest, while additional sources confirmed that Aliyu has since been transported to the DSS headquarters in Abuja for further interrogation and processing.
