Bandits Abduct New Couple, Imam, Others In Kaduna

BY ISAIAH BENJAMIN, Kaduna

Bandits have attacked Dan-Honu II community in New Millennium City, Chikun local government area of Kaduna State and kidnapped eight persons.

Among those abducted were a new couple who were married last Saturday, the imam of the community mosque, his wife and three children, including a 10-month-old baby.

The bandits who stormed the community around 8:50pm numbering about 10, with AK47 rifles and other dangerous weapons, were said to be clad in black, with one of them masked.

A resident, who identified himself as Mohammed, who escaped the abduction by the whiskers, said the bandits started by picking the imam and his family who they met outside the community Juma’at Mosque before proceeding to a-four flats compound where they picked the new couple.

He said, “I was inside my own apartment when the bandits stormed our compound. At first, when they started banging the new couple’s door, because they went to their apartment straight, I thought they were security people who came to arrest my neighbour.

“They started banging his door and shouting ‘Dan Iska ba za ka fito ba?’, meaning ‘idiot, won’t you come out? That was when I realised that they were kidnappers. So, when they could not force the door open, they broke his window and broke the burglary proof. “On gaining entrance into the apartment, the bandits tried to open the door, they could not open it. So, they brought the couple out through the broken window. They injured the husband and blood was dripping out of his body.

“Then, they made attempt to enter my own apartment too. They had broken the glass window, but as they were busy hitting the burglary proof to break into my apartment, one of the vigilantes in the community fired a shot into the air. Then, on hearing that gunshot, the bandits became uncomfortable. Then, they left our compound,” Mohammed narrated.

Meanwhile, the imam, Malam Suleiman and his neighbour, Malam Musa, who were picked while they were relaxing with Arabian tea outside the Mosque premises, escaped while they were being led out of the community into the bush.

Similarly, the new bride who was said to have gone through a surgery recently was abandoned in the bush by the kidnappers when she could not cope with the pace of their trekking in the bush. The imam’s wife was also let go when her baby’s cry almost exposed the bandits to vigilantes around Kakura area.

The bandits eventually succeeded in going away with the new groom identified as Ibrahim and two of the imam’s children (15-year-old Abba and his younger brother). And they were yet to establish contact with the family as at the time of filing this report.

Narrating his short ordeal in the hands of the bandits, Imam Suleiman said two of the seven bandits who abducted them, were armed with AK47 rifles with chain of bullets, while others carried axe, machetes and sticks.

He said, “They beat by 10months old baby because he was crying. They even threatened to kill him, saying that, his cry was disturbing them. But I thank God that my wife and the baby later escaped after I had escaped, but they (bandits) went away with my two older sons.”

Soldiers and policemen attached to the Millennium Strike Force and police division were reported to have arrived the scene minutes after the bandits had led the captives into the bush.

When contacted for confirmation of the incident, the Kaduna command spokesperson, ASP Mansir Hassan was not reachable as at the time of filing the report.