Security operatives foil abduction of 80 school children, recover rustled cows in Katsina

Operatives of the Katsina State police command and a vigilante group have succeeded in foiling an attempt to abduct eighty-four persons, mostly Islamiyya school children in Mahuta village of Dandume Local Government Area of the State.

The attack comes a few days after gunmen invaded Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, kidnapping 344 students.

The rescue operation was conducted by the security operatives following a distress call received on Saturday at around 10:00 pm, by the DPO Dandume, that some Islamiyya Students of Hizburrahim Islamiyya, Mahuta village, numbering about eighty, were abducted on their way home after they graced a maulud procession at Unguwar Al-Kasim, a nearby village by bandits.

In a statement released on Sunday by the Police Spokesman, SP Gambo Isah, the students were kidnapped by bandits who had already accosted four (4) persons and rustled twelve (12) cows from Danbaure village in Funtua LGA of the state trying to escape into the forest.

On receipt of the report, he said, the DPO led Operations “Puff Adder,” Sharan Daji and Vigilante group to the area and engaged the bandits into a fierce gun duel.

“Subsequently, the teams succeeded in dislodging the bandits and rescued all the eighty-four (84) kidnapped victims and recovered all the twelve rustled cows. Search parties are still combing the area with a view of arresting the injured bandits and/or recovery of their dead bodies. Investigation is ongoing,” Isah Said.