From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
There is palpable fear among the residents of Kaduna, especially those in Angwan Bulus in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State, following the discovery of the lifeless bodies of five kidnapped people, including three from Angwan Bulus.
About two weeks ago, the bandits had attacked the Angwan Bulus community which is a part of Kaduna city, where one of the locals was killed, and then went away with several others even though that was not the first of such bloody attacks in neighbouring communities like Juji, Angwan Gimbiya and Sabo GRA.
What is not clear to many residents in the state was the boldness and audacity of the attackers having to cross a dual carriage highway behind Kaduna Refinery and Petrochemical Company (KRPC) on several motorcycles, repeatedly without a matching challenge from security operatives in the area.
A credible source in the area who confirmed the development told Daily Sun that the bandits had called their community contact to go to a particular location at Dutse village, along the Kaduna-Abuja Highway, to pick up the three corpses belonging to Angwan Bulus community, due to failure to pay ransoms placed on their heads.
“The bandits called earlier yesterday, saying that they have killed three of the people they kidnapped from Angwan Bulus and told us where their bodies were dumped.
“The terrorists called last evening and said since we refused to pay the ransom, we should go to a location and carry the corpses of our people.
“Before we got there, we learnt that police had already evacuated the bodies and deposited them at Saint Gerald Catholic Hospital, Kakuri, Kaduna. We were at the hospital last night to confirm that.
“The terrorists made further threats that if the community and families fail to pay the ransom by tomorrow evening (Tuesday evening ), they should go to the same spot and carry another set of corpses.
“Right now, we are confused. We don’t know what to do. We have sold all we ever worked for to appease these people, but they want more. We are appealing to the federal and state governments to come to our rescue to save the remaining people in captivity,” the source said in tears.
Spokesman for the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Mohammed Jalige, confirmed the unfortunate development via a telephone call. I received phone calls from some people this morning that three bodies were found at Dutse village somewhere in the bush. The corpses were evacuated to Saint Gerald Hospital. We are trying to talk to the area commander to ensure the safe return of those who are still in captivity,” he said.
In the same vein, eight out of 20 people who were abducted in Idon town, Kajuru local government area of the State have been released by their abductors after spending about two months in captivity.
“They were released on Sunday after ransom was paid. They said we need to bring additional ransome before they can release the remaining 12 people. We have reported the recurrence of bandits attacks in Kajuru and Kachia to higher authorities, but they have not done anything concrete to stop the attacks. As we speak, there are several others in the kidnappers’ den apart from these 12 people,” another source who spoke in confidence said.
