Noah Ebije, Kaduna
In a fresh kidnap incident, no fewer than 47 persons, who are mostly travelers, have been abducted along the Birnin-Gwari – Kaduna Highway by suspected bandits.
The incident took place between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
Birnin-Gwari axis has been in the news in recent times where bandits have been unleashing mayhem on communities in the area.
When contacted, Kaduna State Police Public Relations officer, ASP Aliyu Mukhtar, said he needed time to get the details of what actually transpired in the area and how many people were involved.
“Let me get the details I will call you back.” He said.
However, Chairman of the National Union Road Tranaport Workers (NURTW), Birnin Gwari branch, Danladi Duniya, confirmed the abduction of the travellers to newsmen on phone in Kaduna.
According to him, the travellers that were abducted on Wednesdsy were traveling in three Golf vehicles from Birnin-Gwari to Kano.
He said each of the vehicle was conveying not less than 7 passengers each, totaling 21 persons.
The chairman also disclosed that yesterday (Tuesday) about 17 people were kidnapped along Kwanan Dutse in the same vicinity.
Danladi Duniya said the incident on Tuesday involved a Sharon bus carrying many passengers, heading toward north and south of the highway.
He also said the victims were “on their way to various destinations when the kidnappers attacked them and carried them into the bush.
” But today (Wednesday) around 8am another batch of 21 people were abducted near Labi village along the same kaduna -BIrnin Gwari road.
“Today’s victims affected three of our vehicles and each contained 7 passengers making total of 21 persons which include males and females going to Kano for various business activities,” he said.
According to him, he also said from the three golf cars, people in a trailer and a tanker were also stopped and abducted by the bandits.
“I can’t confirm the number of those inside the trailer and Tanker. But those 21 were taken from vehicles belonging to our members,” he said.
He then called for the quick intervention of the authorities concerned, saying the bandits still operate with impunity along that route, in spite of the reported deployment of soldiers and police to the area.