Robbers storm Abuja estate, kidnapping the occupants

Merely eight months have passed since gunmen posing as bandits stormed Grow Homes Estate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)’s Kubwa neighbourhood and kidnapped nine inhabitants; on Thursday night, they reappeared and took three hostages.

The victims, a man and a couple, were taken from two different apartments within the complex.

It was learned that the shooters fled via the bush route connecting the settlement to another one.

After assaulting the area about 9 p.m., the gunmen fired intermittent shots into the air to scare people away, according to a security source at the estate who insisted on remaining anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the press.

The insider described the events leading up to the incident as follows: “We (the vigilante) heard a gunshot on Thursday around 9pm. We heard the sound, and some officers from the Nigeria Mobile Police (MOPOL) and I looked around to see where it was.

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“We saw one of us on the way. He informed us that they were more than twenty kidnappers. A bullet hit him in the hand. We heard another gunshot at that point. They were firing at us and the cops were firing back.

“Due to their quantity, we were forced to halt their counteroffensive. Three people were taken away: a male and a couple. No one has heard from the kidnappers yet.

Before dragging their victims away, the kidnappers turned off the alert systems of the homes they assaulted, according to Bello Mohammed, a local resident.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Federal Capital Territory, Josephine Adeh, promised to respond when contacted, but as of the time this report was filed, she had not done so.