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From John Adams Minna
More facts have emerged on why bandits, last Friday night, invaded the Kuchi community in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State, killing seven people, including four security personnel and went away with over 200 villagers.
The bandits, numbering about 300, defied the downpour of the night and looted houses and shops, catering away food stuff, provisions and drinks as the watch helplessly.
A reliable source close to the community told Daily Sun that the bandits succeeded in their invasion of the community following the movement of some members of the Joint Security Task Force stationed in the area for “another assignment” outside the state.
It was gathered that five days before the attack, which the community described as the worst in the area in the last five years, a number of the joint security task force, were removed from the community, leaving less about 30 of them.
It was further learnt that the bandits, fully aware of the negligible number of the security agents through their informants, invaded the community in their large numbers and overwhelmed the security task force. Although our source disclosed that the joint security task force put up a brave fight against the over 300 fully armed bandits and neutralised 25 of them with several others injured, they were overwhelmed due to the number and lack of ammunition.
(Continued on www.sunnewsonline.com)
“The bandits came and overpowered the security people because there were few left in the community after some of them were moved out of Kuchi. About a week ago, they transferred many of them out of Kuchi and we don’t know why, nobody gave us any reason why they were moved out of the community. Only about 30 of them were left behind and that was why the bandits came because their informants might have told them about the numbers of the security people. They came in over 100 motorcycles and each one carrying three people.
“They divided themselves into three groups and invaded the community from different directions. One of the groups went to engage the security agents in their camp, while others were busy looting houses, shops and kidnapping the people.
“Nobody could escape and those who tried to escape were shot and killed. We lost three villagers and four of the security agents, but about 25 of the bandits were killed by the security people. The figure of bandits who were killed would have been more than this 25, but the security people ran out of ammunition and the bandits were many. Throughout the battle, there was no help from anywhere.
“We have enjoyed some level of peace in the community for about three years now because of the presence of the joint security task force, until this attack on Friday night. We blame the attack on the decision to move some members of security agents out of the community. Since they were here in the community, in their numbers, no bandits terrorise us. Kuchi was a no-go area for them. It is quite unfortunate that we are beginning to experience this now that the farming session is here. Right now, over 200 villagers are with the bandits in the bush, and they are asking for N10 million for each person”, our source added.
It was equally gathered that the bandits, after the attack, spent the whole Friday night at the river bank trying to cross the river with their victims, but they eventually succeeded after hijacking a wooden boat from a local fisherman who helped them to move all the kidnapped victims across in batches.
“If there was reinforcement of the security agents, they would have rescued the people because they spent the night at the river bank. It was on Saturday morning that they succeeded in hijacking a wooden boat to move the people. The water level became high after the heavy rain that Friday night and they couldn’t cross it”, our source disclosed.
Meanwhile, Daily Sun has gathered that the gunmen have demanded N10 million for the release of each of the 200 victims abducted on Friday night. The bandits have rejected the offer of N60,000 for each of the victims by the community and have given two weeks ultimatum for the payment of the N10 million ransom. A source said the bandits have shared the victims into six groups and have moved them into different camps for easy management.
