Bandits kidnap 22 villagers on Abuja-Kaduna Highway

Bandits have raided some houses at Anguwar Maji, in Jere town along the Abuja-Kaduna Highway and abducted 22 villagers barely 24 hours after the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, visited the highway.

Jere, which shares a boundary with Tafa-Sabon -Wuse in Niger State, is located on the ever-busy Abuja-Kaduna Highway.

A resident of Anguwar Maji, Shehu Bala, who confirmed the latest abduction through a telephone conversation with Dailytrust on Monday, said the incident happened around 11pm on Sunday.

He said the bandits, who came in large numbers and wielding AK-47 rifles, invaded some houses and whisked away 22 residents, including five women.

“The bandits came in their large numbers as some of them wore army uniforms.

“They moved from house to house and woke their victims up before they marched them into the bush at gunpoint,” he said.

According to him, the bandits operated silently in the community for over an hour.

He added that they only started shooting sporadically to scare people from coming after them after leaving the community.

Bala however said one among the 22 kidnapped victims escaped from his abductors while being led into the bush.

The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Mohammed Jalinge, could not be reached on phone to confirm the latest abduction at the time of filing this report.