11 kidnapped persons escape from terrorists’ camp in Katsina

By ABDURRAHMAN UMAR  

No fewer than eleven victims of kidnap have escaped and one was rescued by the police from the hands of terrorists in Katsina metropolis.

Residents told Channels Television that the terrorists invaded the town at about 2:00 am on Wednesday and operated for almost two hours across Shagari Low-Cost and Sokoto Rima Quarters in the state capital.

According to the residents, the terrorists, roughly twenty, ransacked the communities before they eventually took their victims to Nasarawa-Bugaje village in the neighboring Jibia Local Government Area of the State.

Three of the escaped victims simply identified as Mas’udu Musa, Abubakar Aminu, and Abdulhadi Sa’adu, who are mainly local security personnel, told Channels Television that the terrorists invaded the communities barefooted. The attackers, armed with sophisticated weapons, also bore security personnel uniforms.

They narrated that the hoodlums, upon their arrival, were looking for a lawmaker’s house which was not in existence in the area. The gunmen, however, insisted on being taken to the house.

In the beginning, the terrorists jointly tied the hands of eleven people randomly picked up from different locations and shepherd them to a house owned by a well-to-do individual, Abdullahi Esha, M, of Sokoto Rima Quarters, Katsina, where they kidnapped his newlywed 18-year-old wife, one Walida Abdul-Aziz Maigoro.

“Their target (terrorists) was to kidnap the wife of a rich man at Sokoto rima Quarters, Katsina,” one of the victims learned.

A community leader in Shagari Low-Cost, name withheld, said efforts are on top gear to enhance the security network in the area.

He said one of the residents, who is a medical doctor, had due to the attack evacuated his entire family to a safer place in Kano State this morning.

The Katsina State Police Command also confirmed the incident. The Police spokesman, SP Gambo Isah, stated that the incident occurred when a team of terrorists, armed with AK-47 rifles, attacked the house of one Abdullahi Lawal Esha, M, of Sokoto Rima Quarters, Katsina, and kidnapped his wife.

According to him, the command’s police Anti-kidnapping Unit and patrol teams were immediately dispatched to the area and chased after the hoodlums.

“The teams had a fierce gun duel with the terrorists which made them flee and abandon their heinous mission.

“Subsequently, the team succeeded in rescuing the victim, one Walida Abdulaziz Maigoro, ‘F’, 18yrs, unhurt,” he added. (Channels TV)