Bandits release 43 abducted Zamfara worshippers, kill one

Bandits have reportedly released 43 worshippers they abducted last Friday from a central mosque in Zugu community of Bukkuyum Local Government Area of Zamfara State.

Daily Trust has learnt that the abductors had earlier subjected the captives to hard labour on their farmlands but later accepted to collect N5 million for their release after days of intense negotiations.

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“One of the captives has died in the hands of the captors. The abducted worshippers were kept at a hill between a community known as Marina and an expansive dreaded forest called BarikinDaji in Gummi Local Government Area of the state,” a source familiar with the matter told Daily Trust.

“They were subjected to physical labour without rest or food. The captives are looking haggard and fatigued. Some of them can’t sit, stand or talk,” the source added.

It was learnt that after payment of ransom, the hoodlums asked the relatives of the abducted worshippers to pick the victims at BarikinDaji forest.

A resident,  who craved anonymity, said, “The community, thereafter, mobilized and dispatched several motorbike riders to the forest and they were taken out of the bush in batches because of their large number.

“They were ferried to the side of DakiTakwas-Zuru highway where they were picked by the waiting vehicles to their community.”

The spokesman for the police in the state, SP Muhammad Shehu, could not be reached for comment as of the time of filing this report.

(Daily Trust)