Police Hunt for 5 School Girls Kidnapped by Bandits in Niger

Police Hunt for 5 School Girls Kidnapped by Bandits in Niger

Laleye Dipo in Minna

The Niger State Police Command has begun a man hunt for five school girls, their teacher and a security guard abducted from their Tulare Academy School Maruba in the Mariga Local Government Area of the state last Sunday

It was gathered that the bandits numbering about 36 came into the school on motorcycles on Sunday evening and started shooting into the air creating panic and fear in the pupils after which they abducted the five girls their teacher and the security man.

The bandits were said to have taken advantage of the remote location of the private boarding primary school, its lack of perimeter fence and communication to carry out the operation.

The school has now been deserted. However, Niger State Police Commissioner, Alhaji Adamu Unman who led heads of other security agencies to the school said “a special technical squad and armed anti-kidnapping squad had been deployed to the area to rescue the victims unhurt.”
He explained that the visit of the security chiefs to the scene was to enable them deploy additional security measures to the school and the community to forestall future attack.

Unman however said that no amount of pressure and intimidation would deter the command from discharging its constitutional mandate of safeguarding lives and properties of people in the state but appealed to communities in the state to always report to the nearest security agencies any person or group of persons with questionable character for prompt security response. The Police Commissioner, appealed to communities in Niger State to always report to the nearest security agencies any person or group of persons with questionable character for prompt security response.

Last Sunday the Pastor of Kauna Baptist Church, Danazunmi near Grigori in the Rafi Local Government Area of the state Reverend Genesis Zaka and three female church members were kidnapped by bandits. The names of the kidnapped female church members were given as Tabitha Luka, Liatu Nuhu and Rahila Luka.

The pastor and the female church members were said to have been abducted by the bandits during the morning Sunday service.
An eyewitness who narrated how the incident occurred told THISDAY that during the service the bandits came in large number riding on motorcycles and surrounded the church resulting in a stampede with many of the worshipers running for their lives.

It was in the confusion that the pastor and the three female church members were kidnapped and taken into hiding.
The source said that on Monday the bandits contacted the church secretary asking for a N30m ransom before those kidnapped would be released.
The church reportedly pleaded that they could only raise N40,000 which the bandits reportedly rejected but promise to get back to them.

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