The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested three additional suspects allegedly linked to the kidnapping of Professor Samuel Avengbe Okunsebor, Dean of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University.
Their arrest brings to five the number of suspects taken into custody in connection with the abduction of the university don.
Security sources said the latest arrests were carried out on Friday night at a local brothel along the Lafia-Makurdi highway.
The suspects were reportedly apprehended at Mararraban Akunza, a community on the outskirts of Lafia, during an intelligence-led operation by DSS operatives.
Those arrested were identified as 25-year-old Yakubu Abubakar, also known as Black or Starboy; 37-year-old Usman Abubakar Mairiga; and 27-year-old Sale Babauro Abubakar.
A security source said Abubakar, who is from the Doemak tribe in Plateau State, was among those identified as members of the alleged kidnapping network.
The source added that Mairiga is Hausa, while Sale Abubakar is Fulani.
The three suspects have since been transferred to the custody of the DSS State Command, where investigators are expected to question them over their alleged roles in the operation.
Their continued detention was said to have been authorised by a magistrate’s court through a valid detention warrant.
Professor Okunsebor was abducted in the early hours of Wednesday, July 15, 2026, by gunmen who reportedly attacked him at Mile Uku.
Mile Uku is located around the boundary between Lafia Local Government Area and Nasarawa-Eggon Local Government Area in Nasarawa State.
DSS operatives rescued the professor two days after his abduction, bringing an end to the ordeal.
Two suspects were arrested during the operation that led to his rescue, including a woman believed to have links with the kidnapping operation.
The latest arrests suggest that security operatives are widening their investigation into the gang allegedly responsible for the university lecturer’s abduction.
Investigators are expected to establish the identities and individual roles of the suspects as the probe continues.
The DSS has not publicly released a detailed account of the operation or disclosed whether additional arrests are expected.