The incident took place when the terrorists were transferring from the nearby Birnin-Gwari Forest in Kaduna State to Sububu Forest in Zamfara State.
Over 60 people, including youngsters, have been kidnapped by armed bandits in the border towns of Zamfara and Katsina states.
The impacted settlements include Kucheri, Wanzamai, and Danwuri in Zamfara State’s Tsafe Local Government Area and Yankara Town in Katsina State’s Faskari Local Government Area.
The incidents took place early on Friday when the terrorists travelled from Zamfara State’s Sububu Forest to Kaduna State’s nearby Birnin-Gwari Forest.
Channels Television learned that the terrorists were escaping Zamfara region as a result of intense military bombardment that resulted in the deaths of over 100 bandits within a week, despite the fact that police officials in the state have not yet confirmed the occurrence.
Ahmad Kucheri, a resident of Tsafe, told Channels Television that the bandits were kidnapping everyone they saw when they left the state while fleeing after suffering severe military fatalities.
He claimed that the majority of those taken were chosen from their different farms, along with some kids who were gathering firewood and local fertiliser from the bush and some workers from nearby mines.
From Sububu Forest to Birnin-Gwari side, the outlaws were making their way. So when they saw individuals gathering firewood from the jungle, they scooped them up. They also found some kids gathering local fertiliser and others working in the mines. They grabbed everyone and transferred them to the Birnin-Gwari side of Niger State, the man added.
They just gathered everybody, including children and anybody else they saw along the road, without shooting or killing anyone.
Several calls and texts sent to CSP Mohammed Shehu, the Zamfara State Police Command’s spokesman, went unanswered.
Mamman Tsafe, a former deputy inspector general of police who is also from the local government area, is the commissioner for security for the Zamfara State, but he did not return calls left for him.
