Fresh abductions as bandits hit Abuja Community again

Bandits have abducted five persons from Tekpeshe-Gurdi community in Gurdi ward of Abaji area council of Abuja.

Daily Trust had reported how bandits invaded Tekpeshe community two weeks ago, killing one person and abducting others.

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More than N5 million was paid as ransom before the victims, including a former councillor, Mohammed Ibrahim Tanko, alongside 16 others, were set free last Friday.

The bandits held down the village chief’s son, Ibrahim Sarki, and demanded additional N8 million ransom.

Confirming the latest kidnap incident through telephone on Saturday, the incumbent councillor representing Gurdi ward, Wozhe Ishaya, said bandits blocked the road at Tekpeshe-Gurdi, where the residents were abducted.

He said the abducted persons were returning from neigboring Tekpeshe community on their back to Gurdi when the ran into the bandits.

“Actually, the victims went to Tekpeshe community to sympathise with some abducted victims that were set free by bandits, while on their way going back Gurdi, they ran into the bandits,” he said.

He said the bandits, who were wielding sophisticated weapons, also snatched six motorcycles in the process.

Ishaya disclosed that some residents of Dadin Kowa, a neigboring village, were currently fleeing their community over fear of attack.

“In fact, even as I am talking to you right now, some villagers of Dadin Kowa have started leaving their village because of that incident,” he said.

The former councillor that represented Gurdi ward, Mohammed Ibrahim, who is a native of Tekpeshe, also confirmed the abduction.

“The bandits actually went to collect ransom of some victims they abducted at Zago village last week. At the spot between my village and Gurdi, some villagers who left Tekpeshe on motorcycles were returning home when they ran into them,” he said.

The district head of Gurdi, Alhaji Bala Mohammed, could not be reached for comment as he did not pick calls put across to his phone.

The spokesperson of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) police command, DSP Adeh Josephine, is yet to reply to text message sent to her about the latest kidnap incident.