-Security men detects location of abductees From Kagara
Our correspondent learnt that on Thursday, security team dispatched to Niger State from Abuja had through air surveillance detected the location of abductees from Kagara and 18 passengers of the state transport service, who were kidnapped at Yakila village also in the Rafi LGA on Sunday.
A top security source, who confided in The PUNCH news, said the kidnappers of the students and the passengers belong to the same gang.
He said the two groups of abductees were being kept close to each other in Kotonkoro forest in Niger State, but close Zamfara State, adding that security forces had cornered the bandits.
Meanwhile, Isa, who stays in the GSC Kagara staff quarters, in an interview with press, said he escaped shortly after the bandits raided the school hostel.
He stated, “After all domestic work, we went to sleep. After 2pm, we heard some people trying to force our door open. Before we knew what was happening, they forced the door open and came into the bedroom, held me by trousers and took me outside.”
“They took me to the students’ hostel. On reaching there, they started gathering the students, so when the students discovered who they were, they started running, but the kidnappers told them not to run. They said they were soldiers who came to provide security, not kidnappers. The person, who held me, wore uniform of the Nigerian Army.
“They were three that came to my room, but one wore black clothes. When we were at the hostel, they gathered the students, but some of the students succeeded in running into the bush. They took those they caught outside and tied them in pairs.
“So when they started tying us, I stayed at the rear, pulled off my shirt and God gave me the courage to run. I was running in a zigzag manner as they were shooting. At a point, I prostrated and started crawling. I ran to a driver’s house, I knocked at the door and he opened and I stayed there till around after 4pm. The kidnappers operated for two hours.”
A source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, lamented that a police station was two kilometres away from the school, but the bandits operated for two hours without any move by the security agency to stop them.
Another student of the school, who also escaped but refused to disclose his identity said the bandits first attacked two houses by the fence.
He added that the kidnappers were chasing and shooting students, who were running away and in the process killed a student.
A member of the security team sent from Abuja, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stated, “ I can confirm to you that after the aerial surveillance, the two groups of abductees have been spotted in a bush close to Zamfara. The kidnappers have been cornered, but we are being careful because of safety of the victims.
