Kaduna state Police Command has confirmed the kidnapping of 12 persons in a new residential area of Kofar Gayan/Kofar Kona axis of Zaria, Kaduna state.
The incident, according to information available to Blueprint, took place between Saturday night and early hours of Sunday, barely three days after the killing of a student and kidnap of 10 students and lecturers of Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic in the same Zaria.
The Kaduna state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige who confirmed the development in a telephone interview said, “Yes, there was an incident in Zaira and some of the victims were rescued”.
When asked whether the kidnappers have reached out for ransom, Jalige said in most cases, the families of the victims usually choose not to disclose the dealings between them and the kidnappers.
He however said efforts were on to secure the release of the remaining people in captivity.
It was gathered that eight people were kidnapped from one house, who are mostly males.
An eyewitness and a daughter of one of the abductees, Hafsat Habib Kusfa, said the bandits broke into their home around 12am and went from room to room bringing out all the occupants and thereafter assembled them in the compound of the house.
She explained that the gunmen, who invaded their house carrying guns and machetes, spoke Fulani language among themselves and Hausa language when they wanted to talk to their captives.
According to her, after some arguments, the gunmen told her to go back into the house to take care of the children along with a nursing mother, who is her step mother.
“Thereafter, they took away my father, mother, sister, and my brothers. All in all they took eight people from our residence. We also saw some of their colleagues bringing out other people mostly males from our neighbourhood and later went away with them.
“About seven gunmen stormed our residence, those that I saw with my eyes and two of them outside were about 30-year of age while those that came to pick us from our rooms were between ages 15 and 20,” Hafsat said.
Speaking further on Sunday morning, Hafsat Kusfa, confirmed the release of her father and mother, whom she said were immediately hospitalised because none of them could speak.
“From their condition, it is evident that they received severe beating from their abductors which made them ill,” she said.
Unconfirmed report, however, has it that a former bank manager was also abducted at his residence at Graceland area of Kwangila, Zaria, at about 9pm Friday night.
