DSS arrests popular Kaduna social media influencer, Sultan for Attempted Kidnap

Indications are rife that the Department of State Services (DSS) arrested Kaduna-based social media activist, Abubakar Muhammad, popularly known as Sultan, based on intelligence that he was allegedly planning to kidnap one businessman (name withheld).

A top security source told our correspondent that Sultan was arrested on Saturday in Rigachikun, Igabi Local Government Area, following a complaint that he was planning to kidnap the complainant using social media as a decoy.

According to the source, Muhammad allegedly created fake accounts with the handles @OZugwai40986 on X (formerly Twitter) and @Zugwai75 on Instagram, which he used to threaten the complainant and demand payment through a crypto wallet and a Point of Sales (POS) account.

At a point, added the source, the influencer began to give the complainant several venues to meet him, failing which he threatened to “expose and deal with” the complainant.

The complainant, out of concern for his safety and that of his family said Sultan, in trying to use several other pseudo social media accounts to get his attention, eventually lured him to an undisclosed location. The move triggered suspicion of a kidnap attempt, promoting the businessman to formally write the DSS.

The source disclosed that Sultan deleted the accounts he used to lure the complainant when he realised the DSS was closing in on him, but DSS cyber experts recovered them from his phone.

He added that investigators found digital footprints, payment evidence and conversations linking him directly to the alleged attempted kidnap, which will be presented in court “in the next few days.”