Kaduna state Police Command has said it is tracking the kidnappers of 16 miners to secure their freedom.
Spokesperson of the command, DSP Yakubu Sabo Abubakar, while speaking to Daily Trust on phone said, “The kidnappers are engaging the family to negotiate for ransom and while they are doing that, we are tracking them.”
He noted that a link has been established adding that investigation is on going.
Daily Trust recalls that 16 persons identified as miners with six of them from the same family were reportedly kidnapped along Birnin Gwari – Kaduna highway.
The incident occurred on Tuesday around 5:30pm, according to an eyewitness.
It was gathered that the armed bandits kidnapped the victims around Tashar Keji/Tsauntsaye near Kuriga and Palwaya, along the deadly Birnin Gwari – Kaduna highway.
The Chairman, Birnin-Gwari Vanguards for Security and Good Governance, Ibrahim Abubakar Nagwari, in a press statement, on Friday said, “We can authoritatively confirmed the two incidents and the kidnapping of sixteen people mostly artisan miners and the demand of one million Naira each per head as ransom.”
The statement gave the names of those kidnapped as Ashiru, Lawal, Kamaye, Umar, Abdulhameedu, (all from the same family) as well as Umar, Buba, Sarki and five others, while three other people (commuters) complete the number.
He said, “It is our view that the armed bandits have turn Birnin-Gwari to an enclave of terrorism. Our sources of livelihood have been eroded, our social life diminished, our commercial/economic activities grounded.
“The people of Birnin-Gwari are crudely pushed to the extreme wall with kidnapping escalating on a daily basis unchallenged.”
The forum urged the Federal Government to declare a total war against armed bandits in Birnin-Gwari and official pronounced armed bandits as terrorists.
