THE Katsina state wing of the Nigeria Police Force has confirmed reports of abduction of eight persons along Ruma village in Batsari Local Government area of Katsina State on Sunday.
The Police Command Spokesperson, Gamba Isa, said contrary to rumours that about 40 traders were abducted; only eight people were pulled out of their car and taken into a forest by the armed bandits.
“There are rumours going on the social media that about 40 people were kidnapped, it’s not true, 8 were kidnapped and we have not been able to rescue seven out of them,” Isa said.
Speaking to The ICIR, He said following the report of the incident, a rescue operation by Operation Puff Adder went after the bandits.
Isa said that although the police do not have a figure of how many bandits orchestrated the act, they are ‘many and are heavily armed’.
Isa added that the Katsina State Police Command and members of the community have surrounded the forest where the bandits took the victims, but they are still unable to recover the remaining seven which signals to possible demand for ransom.
“Usually, the modus operandi of these bandits is that they either go to people’s house to pick them or block them by the road through information from members of the community and later they call for ransom, it’s usually for money, not for any other thing” Isa added.
Sometimes the members of the community fail to involve the police before paying a ransom to bandits when their families are kidnapped, he said.
According to the police spokesperson, kidnapping has been rampant in Ruma village and neighbouring states including Zamfara and the Niger Republic.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94
Kaduna or Katsina?