No fewer than 30 persons were abducted in the early hours of yesterday by bandits, who invaded Jangaru village in Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State.
The fresh round of kidnap came on a day the First Lady, Dr. Aisha Buhari, expressed sorrow at the continued abduction of women and girls by insurgents and bandits in the country.
This is even as African First Ladies Peace Mission, yesterday, admonished parents in the North to send their daughters back to school, despite the series of abductions of students in that part of the country.
Jangaru is a village close to Zungeru town where series of kidnapping, including that of the abduction of travellers in the Niger State Transport Authority, NSTA, vehicle, had taken place.
The incident took place at about 1.30 am, yesterday. An impeccable source from the village told Vanguard that the heavily armed bandits sneaked into the village on foot to avoid creating awareness or panic on the villagers.
It was gathered that the bandits had hidden their motorcycles far away from the village and trekked from their “park” to the village and rounded up their victims, who were deeply asleep.
The source added that some of the bandits were left behind with the motorcycles where they were parked, while others trekked into the village to carry out the dastardly act.
The bandits, after arriving the village, were said to have moved from house to house, woke their victims up, stole their belongings and filed them out to where they parked their motocycles and ferried them into the forest.
The source said: “The villagers were caught unawares because they were all sleeping. Again, there was no noise because the kidnappers trekked to the village and there was no gunshot throughout to cause any panic.
“The villagers, who left with nothing, were forced to trek along with them to their motorcycles where they rode into the forest and till now, there is no information about them.”
Immediately the bandits left, an alarm was said to have been raised by those who escaped the kidnap but it was already too late to trail the kidnappers.
Those taken away included nine Fulani, 20 Gwari, while the tribe of the last abductee could not be immediately ascertained.
All efforts to reach the Chairman of Rafi Local Government Council, Alhaji Ismaila Kagara, on the issue proved abortive.
Similarly, the state police command could not be reached for confirmation at press time but a senior local government official in the area who pleaded anonymity, confirmed the development.
