Bandits Kidnap Seven People in Abuja Community

Olawale Ajimotokan in Abuja

The insecurity in some parts of the country intensified last night as seven mourners were kidnapped by bandits at the border community of Gidan Bijimi, a rural settlement in Bwari Area Council.

Sources said the victims, comprising six girls and a 16- year-old boy, were abducted in a well-coordinated attack that happened about 10pm on Wednesday night.It was gathered that the victims had travelled to the community that shared boundary with the neighbouring Marke village around Kaduna State for a burial ceremony of a relative before the armed men invaded the area.

The incident has added a new layer to the pattern of raids that increasingly targeted vulnerable FCT border communities.

An eye witness said the bandits that brandished AK -47 tifles, raided two houses in the community and bolted away with the victims, amid sporadic shooting that deterred many residents from confronting the criminals. It was gathered that some residents also abandoned their homes after the incident as precaution.

Incidentally, the abduction happened three days after the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, launched Operation Sweep and directed police and security agencies to strengthen surveillance, curb crime and ensure residents’ safety citywide.

The hoodlums also unleashed their criminality a day after the FCT Police Commissioner Miller Dantawaye had assured residents of the readiness of the police to secure the border communities as well as all the major places in the nation’s capital.