One of the detainees watched the campus to determine the best time for the attack, carried out on July 5 by the other members of the gang, armed with assault rifles, according to the police spokesman’s statement broadcast to the press through social networks.

The purpose of the kidnapping was to demand cash ransom, unlike similar actions by Islamist group Boko Haram, whose headquarters are in the state of Borno (northeast), which carries out similar attacks to exercise pressure on the central government.

Automatic rifles were found in the suspects’ homes and the investigation is still on, the statement added.

Boko Haram follows the Islamic State and despite official announcements of its dispersion, it claims frequent dynamite attacks and kidnappings of students, preferably women, officials and oil companies technicians.

pgh/lcr/gdc