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Tag: Kidnap

  • Police rescue eight kidnapped victims in Zamfara

    Police rescue eight kidnapped victims in Zamfara

    The Zamfara State Police Command has reportedly rescued no fewer than eight kidnap victims in the Bungudu Local Government Area of the state.

    The victims were reportedly abducted on August 25 from Kangon Sabuwa in Bungudu LGA and taken to “Kungurmi bandits Camp” where they were rescued by the police “without any financial or material gain”.

    In a statement by the state’s police spokesperson, Muhammed Shehu on Monday, the abducted victims were medically checked by medical officials, debriefed by the police and have been reunited with their families.

    The Commissioner of Police, Ayuba Elkana, however, disclosed that the command was intensifying search and rescue strategies that will lead to the unconditional rescue of other victims in captivity.

    “The CP called on members of the public to improve their cooperation and collaboration with the Police and other security agencies to restore lasting peace and security in the state,” the statement read.

  • Bandits kill one, kidnap seven in Zamfara over refusal to pay levies

    Bandits kill one, kidnap seven in Zamfara over refusal to pay levies

    Armed bandits have killed one person and abducted seven others in Dadah, Tukurawa and Gandamasu in Zurmi local government area of Zamfara State.

    According to reports, the bandits attacked the villages on Thursday night over the villagers’ failure to pay levies imposed by the hoodlums.

    Zurmi is one of the local government areas in the state worst-hit by banditry. It shares boundaries with Jibia local government of Katsina.

    Some of its communities touch the dreaded Rugu forest where bandits have established fortresses.

    In Thursday’s night attack, a youth leader in the area, Abdullahi Yusuf, said one person was killed while seven people were abducted in Dadah village.

    “Four of those abducted were women. What we have found out is that some of the villages did not pay levies imposed by the bandits, which led to the attacks,” he added.

    He said the people of Gidan Zago had paid N800,000 imposed on them while those of Tsakauna agreed to work on the bandits’ farmlands.

    Mr Yusuf said the bandits have now imposed N9 million on Takurawa, N2 million on Dadah and N2.5 million on Gidan Shaho.

    He added that from what their organisation found out, the villagers have agreed to pay the money.

    People of Kurunkudu village in Bakura local government area have also been reportedly paid the bandits N200,000 as levy.

  • Police rescue kidnap victim from forest in Rivers

    Police rescue kidnap victim from forest in Rivers

    Rivers State Police Command said it had rescued one Enyindah Lawson-Ndu who was kidnapped at Elelenwo community in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State last Thursday.

    The Command’s Public Relations Officer, Sp Nnamdi Omoni, who disclosed this in a statement, on Wednesday, said the victim was rescued in a forest in Kono-Boue in Khana Local Government Area of the state while operatives of the command were in search of the hoodlums, who had killed three persons in the area.

    Omoni said they ran into Lawson-Ndu where he was tied up and immediately took him for medical attention.

    The spokesman also disclosed that investigation into the killing of about three people in Kono-Boue on Tuesday had commenced in compliance.

    The statement named those killed in Kono-Boue as “Namene Kialede (30) Muaka Ikara (42) and Kingsley Kponee”.

    While acknowledging that no arrest had been made on the killing, the police spokesman assured that efforts were “seriously on to arrest the perpetrators”.

  • Mastermind of Kano children kidnap sentenced to 104 years in prison

    Mastermind of Kano children kidnap sentenced to 104 years in prison

    A Kano High Court, on Friday, sentenced Paul Owne to 104 imprisonment for masterminding the kidnap of nine children in the state.

    Justice Zuwaira Yusuf, who found the convict guilty of all the 38-count charge, sentenced him without an option of fine.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the convict pleaded guilty to the charges and was convicted accordingly.

    NAN also reports that the six other defendants, who were arraigned alongside Owne, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    “I find Owne guilty on counts two, eight, nine, 27 and 34. I hereby sentence him to seven years imprisonment on each of the counts without an option of fine, in addition to paying the sum of N100,000 fine.

    “The court also found Owne guilty on counts three, five, 10, 11, 22, 28 and 38. I sentence him to seven years in a correctional centre on each of the counts.

    Yusuf held that the convict was found guilty on counts four, 12, 13, 29 and 38, and sentenced him to four years in a correctional centre on each of the counts without an option of fine.

    She, however, said that all the counts must run concurrently and ordered the remand of the six other defendants in a correctional centre for continuation of trial.

    NAN reports that Owne and six others were first arraigned on Nov. 13, 2020 for the kidnap of nine children, who were trafficked from Kano to Anambra.

    The other defendants are: Mercy Paul, Ebere Ogbono, Emmanuel Igwe, Loise Duru , Monica Oracha and Chinelo Ifedegwu.

    Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Mr Mahmoud Balarabe, told the court that the defendants were facing a 38-count charge, bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping and trafficking in children from Kano to Anambra, sometime in 2019.

    According to him, the offences contravene the provisions of Sections 97(1), 273, 277 of the Penal Code and Section 32 (5) of the Children and Young Persons Law of Kano State, 2012.

    While the convict pleaded guilty to all the 38-count charge, the remaining six defendants, however, pleaded not guilty, thus setting stage for their trial.

  • Kidnapped Kogi traditional ruler regains freedom

    Kidnapped Kogi traditional ruler regains freedom

    Alhaji Mohammed Adambe, a first class traditional ruler in Kogi State, who was kidnapped on July 13, has been released.

    The Spokesman for the state police command, DSP William Aya, who confirmed this on Sunday in Lokoja, said that the traditional ruler was released in the evening of July 17.

    It would be recalled that Adambe, the traditional ruler of Eganyi, was kidnapped on Okene-Ajaokuta road while returning to his community.

    Aya said that the state police command had already sent a delegation to Eganyi to sympathise with the ruler.

    Adambe spent five days with his captors before regaining freedom.

  • Buhari orders military, police to rescue 140 kidnapped Kaduna school students

    Buhari orders military, police to rescue 140 kidnapped Kaduna school students

    President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the military, police and intelligence agencies to ensure safe and early release of all kidnapped school children in Kaduna.

    Bandits had stormed the Bethel Baptist High School in the south of Kaduna State overnight and abducted 140 students.

    The attack is the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria, which authorities have attributed to armed bandits seeking ransom payments.

    However, Buhari, in a statement issued by his spokesman, Garba Shehu, expressed concern over attacks on Kaduna and Niger States, largely targeted at students.

    Buhari said there is an ongoing deployment of additional security personnel to all troubled areas.

    He urged security outfits to “act swiftly” to rescue all school boys and girls in the affected states and ensure safe return.

    Buhari said the disturbing incidents of kidnapping students, mostly in Northern states, was already threatening to undermine efforts in boosting school enrollments in states that were adjudged educationally backward.

    He called on state governments to ensure compliance with UN-supported Safe Schools Programme, which the administration had adopted.

    The President described kidnapping as cowardly and despicable, condemning it as an assault on affected families.

  • ‘I raped her everyday for five months’, bandit who kidnapped 18-year-old housewife confesses

    ‘I raped her everyday for five months’, bandit who kidnapped 18-year-old housewife confesses

    A notorious kidnapper and rapist known as Surajo Dauda, has revealed the gruesome ordeal he put one of his victims through while she was in his custody.

    Dauda who was apprehended by police in Katsina State confessed to kidnapping a certain 18-year-old housewife, Jamila Auwal, and raping her daily for the duration she was held captive.

    A spokesman for the police in Katsina State, SP Gambo Isah, noted that the married woman was taken from Tandama village after she was drugged.

    Mr. Isah who disclosed this while parading the suspects before the command headquarters in Katsina on Friday added that Dauda confessed to having abducted the victim, locking her up for five months in a room, and defiling her on a daily basis.

    Meanwhile, one Abdullahi Isiyaku (‘M’, aged 30yrs) of Wardanga village in Bakori LGA of Katsina state reported at Danja Division on June 17th, 2021, that sometime in January 2020, he travelled to Lagos to earn a living and left his wife behind, one Zainab Ahmed, (“F”, aged 20 yrs), under the care of her parents at Unguwar Dantalle village of Tandama area in Danja LGA of Katsina state.

    He however noted that when he returned earlier in June, he met his wife with a four months old baby girl. In the course of an investigation, the lady stated that she was indoctrinated into a new Islamic Sect called “Hakika” by three suspected rapists who jointly had carnal knowledge of her.

    The suspects – Tukur Dan-Azumi, (m, aged 19yrs), Abubakar Yahuza, (m, aged 20yrs), Rufa’i Saosi, (‘m’, 27yrs) all of Unguwar Dantalle in Tandama
    village area Danja, have now been apprehended.

    The police say all the suspects will be charged to court after investigations have been concluded.

  • Gunmen kidnap Ekiti monarch, Oba Benjamin Oso

    Gunmen kidnap Ekiti monarch, Oba Benjamin Oso

    Some yet-to-be-identified armed men have abducted another traditional ruler in Ekiti, Oba Benjamin Oso, the Eleda of Eda Ile, in Ekiti East Local Government Area.

    Brig.-Gen. Joe Komolafe, the Commander of the Ekiti State Security Network code-named Amotekun confirmed the incident on Saturday.

    He said that all the security outfits in Ekiti, including police, soldiers, Amotekun corps, local hunters, and Vigilance groups were already in the forest searching for the monarch.

    However, the Police Public Relations Officer Ekiti Command, ASP Sunday Abutu, said the command was still studying the reports and would soon react formally.

    Abutu assured of police continued readiness to deal with all manner of criminals wherever they are hiding in the state.

    Abutu said protection of lives and property remained a top priority of the Command and warned criminals to steer clear of the state or face the consequences.

    Meanwhile, NAN reported that the traditional ruler was returning from the farm with his wife on Friday when he was abducted.

    His wife was reportedly allowed to go based on the plea of the monarch.

    “The Oba and the wife went to the farm and were accosted by the gunmen.

    ”The two would have been kidnapped but the monarch begged the bandits to free his wife, which they agreed with,” NAN quoted one of the sources.

  • Number of students kidnapped in Kebbi school unknown – Police

    Number of students kidnapped in Kebbi school unknown – Police

    The Police Command in Kebbi says it is yet to ascertain the number of students kidnapped from Federal Government College, Birnin Yauri, Ngaski Local Government Area on Thursday.

    The Command’s spokesman, DSP Nafi’u Abubakar, said in a statement issued in Birnin Kebbi on Friday that reports making the rounds that 50 students were kidnapped form the school were false.

    He stated that: “the attention of the police has been drawn to reports made by some media stations that a police vehicle was used in kidnapping about 50 students of the FGC.

    “A White Hilux Van with registration No. KBSJ 29 belonging to a High Court judge with inscription of Kebbi State Judiciary, hijacked by bandits on Birnin Yauri road was the one used in the kidnapping and not a police vehicle as stated by some media stations.

    “The Command wishes to make it clear and set the records straight that yet to be ascertained number of students are still missing as rescue operation is still on-going.’’

    Abubakar expressed the Command’s commitment to brief members of the media as events unfolded.

    He urged the public and media to ensure their information was correct before drawing conclusions.

    UK-based Reuters News Agency and Qatar-based Al-Jazeera Television reported that 80 students and five teachers were taking away from the school by the kidnappers who also killed a policeman in the attack.

  • JUST IN: Gunmen invade Kebbi school, kidnap several students

    JUST IN: Gunmen invade Kebbi school, kidnap several students

    Gunmen have abducted several female students of Federal Government Girls College Yawuri in Kebbi State.

    The bandits broke into the school premises on Thursday afternoon in police mufti, The Nation learnt.
    “They pointed a gun at the school guards and asked them for the girls’ hostels.

    “Before you know what was happening the bandits invaded the school and started abducting female students,” a source confided.

    Details soon…