Bandits operating in parts of Katsina State in the early hours of yesterday raided Wurma village in Kurfi Local Government Area and abducted 15 women, according to the police.
The state police public relations officer, Anas Gezawa, said in a statement yesterday: “The DPO in Kurfi reported that today (Wednesday), at about 0015 hours, gunmen in large numbers, invaded Murma village in Kurfi Local Government Area and abducted 15 women, including the daughter and daughter in-law of the village head, Alhaji Mustapha Mohammed.”
The statement noted that the bandits also rustled an unspecified number of cattle.
Reports, however, indicate that the hoodlums may have released some of the captives with a specific warning that they were set to make a comeback except the concerned authorities met their demand.
The village head, who spoke in an interview at Kurfi, said: “The people who attacked us were many and all of them were carrying guns.
“About seven of them entered my room and ransacked the whole place, demanding money but I told them that I did not have money.
“They collected two sets of my babanriga but later dropped them when some of them argued that the clothes can be used to catch them. “They have released some of the women they abducted with a message that they will return if we fail to give them N10 million so that they will protect us from further attacks.”
Katsina had since turned a haven for bandits and kidnappers who operate regularly around communities in eight of the 34 local government areas in the state.
The local government areas are Jibia, Batsari, Safana, Dan-Musa, Kankara, Faskari Dandume and Sabuwa, which share boundaries with the Rugu forest, which the bandits use as operational base.