Bandits have shot dead two farmers and abducted four others, including a woman, in Kurutu village in Kachia Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
City & Crime learnt that the two were killed for allegedly failing to pay the N100,000 demanded from each farmer before they would be allowed to farm this year.
A community leader, who confirmed the incident through telephone to our reporter on Wednesday, said the farmers were on their way home when the bandits opened fire and killed them.
He said the bandits, who came through the Kurutu Forest near neighbouring Azzara village, attacked the farmers over their alleged failure to each pay the N100,000 they demanded from farmers in the community and some neighbouring villages.
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He further said, “One of the relatives of the bereaved families informed me this morning that the bandits called and said the reason they killed two among the farmers was because they refused to pay the N100,000 demanded from the farmers last month.”
He said the bandits also claimed that the three other farmers and the woman were abducted because of them giving information to security agents about their movements.
City & Crime recalls that a combined team of security agents and vigilantes earlier raided a bandits’ camp in the Kurutu Forest, killed some while others escaped.
Before the raid on their camp, the bandits reportedly chased away the farmers in the area and asked them to raise N100,000 each, including foodstuffs, before they would be allowed to cultivate their farms.
It was further gathered that the sum of N6.7m was contributed by the farmers, including foodstuffs and drugs, before some of them were allowed to return and continue with the cultivation of their farms.
The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, ASP Hassan Mansur, was yet to confirm the incident.
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