Agaju Madugba, Katsina
Police in Katsina have confirmed the rescue of 13 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) earlier abducted by bandits on March 9, along the Funtua-Gusua highway.
Benue state Police Public Relations Officer, (PPRO), Gambo Isah, said, the corps members from Ondo State were on their way to report at the NYSC camp at Tsafe, Zamfara State, when the bandits intercepted the 18-seaster bus they were travelling in and took them into Doka forest along with five other passengers.
Isah said: “The Divisional Police Officer, Makera, and his team responded to the distress call and arrived timely at the scene. The team searched the nearby forest and rescued 14 passengers made up of nine NYSC members and five others while four corps members and another were whisked away by the fleeing bandits.”
He said that persistent security search yielded the desired results on March 11 when the team located the camp of the bandits and rescued the remaining victims.
“The team succeeded and killed six of the kidnappers. Items recovered from them include, Ak 47 rifle, one LAR rifle, seven rounds of 7.62mm and 12 rounds 7.67mm ammunition were recovered from the bandits.”
In a related incident, he said, “on February 27, 2020 at about 12:30 hours, based on a tip-off, a police patrol team attached to CPS Funtua, accosted the duo of Mohammed Nura and Ibrahim Usman, both of Kurya village, Gusau Local Government Area of Zamfara State, notorious kidnappiers, cattle rustlers and armed robbers; terrorizing Katsina and Zamfara States.
“In the course of investigations, the sum of N658,000, two machetes, two torch lights, one woven military cap with a logo of Jihad written on it, were recovered from the hoodlums during a search. The suspects confessed to belonging to the camp (Ruga) of one Magaji of Kurya forest, their leader, who supplies them with arms and targets for attacks. They further confessed that the money recovered from them was a proceed of cattle rustling. Investigation is ongoing.”