Bandits have abducted over forty people including 39 children working on a farm in Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
Confirming the incident to Radio Nigeria, a resident of Faskari, Salisu Shehu, said the bandits have already contacted the families of some of the abducted children demanding the sum of N30 million as ransom.
He explained that the abducted children were from different parts of Faskari and Funtua Local Government Areas.
When contacted, the state Police Command’s spokesman, SP Gambo Isah said the command was aware of the abduction.
He noted that police operatives had been dispatched to the forest area in effort to rescue the abducted victims.
Sp Isah however, did not give the exact number of persons abducted during the attack but gave an assurance that the police was making frantic efforts to rescue the victims.
“Yes, we got the report and we’re working to rescue them, I will get the full details of the abduction including the exact number of the captives as sent to me by the DPO and get back to you”, said SP Isah in a telephone interview.
Faskari Local Government Area which shares boarders with Zamfara State has been at the receiving end of armed banditry and kidnapping in the last six years, with over fifty villages now deserted by residents fleeing the incessant attacks by bandit gangs in the Rugu Forest.
The federal government had since 2019 launched Operation Sahel Sanity and stationed a Nigerian Army Super camp in Faskari as part of efforts to restore security in the area.
Ismail Adamu