It has been reported that some armed bandits have abducted an unspecified number of people from the busy Gusau–Funtua highway after launching an attack on travellers on the road.
A source who disclosed the attack to Channels TV, Yusuf Tsafe, was travelling on the road but was left stranded in the area after the bandits mounted roadblocks in the Tazame axis of the highway on Thursday morning.
He disclosed that the bandits had remained on the road for over one hour armed, suffocated weapons. The source also disclosed that the bandits had stayed on the road with about 50 motorcycles, with each motorcycle carrying three persons and several travellers abducted.
He explained that the travellers had begun the operation at about 7 am and continued till about 9 am. He noted that the military had arrived, trying to intervene in the situation, but the road had remained blocked for several hours.
Another traveller who spoke with the press explained that another section of the which is the Magazu–Kucheri Road, which links Gusau to Funtua, was blocked by the bandits with travellers stranded too.
The source also noted that the bandits had explained that they attacked the road at about 7 a.m. on Thursday and stayed on the road until about 9 a.m. He disclosed that all the commuters had parked their vehicles on the road, waiting for the military to confront them. The source disclosed that the bandits were seen tagging persons into the bushes.
He disclosed that the military had moved their vehicle into the area with some gun trucks. The source noted that the gunshots were heard, but the road remained with no vehicle allowed to pass the road.
Speaking on the incident, the spokesperson for the Zamfara State Police Command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, explained that the state’s military formations had deployed an additional team to the area. He noted that operatives from the Nigerian Police Mobile Squad have also been deployed.
In the past months, Zamfara State has been faced with some security challenges, which abductions and bandit attacks have characterised. The bandits, on several occasions, have taken people hostage and demanded ransom, which has been learnt to be used in funding. The bandits have also engaged in widespread looting and destruction.
In the past weeks, the residents of Moriki town in the Zurmi Local Government Area of the state have lived in fear as the deadline issued by the notorious bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, to pay an imposed N30m levy expired in the past years.
In reaction to the development, the Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, noted that the bandit kingpin had been degraded and that the capture of the bandit would soon take place. No fewer than three persons lost their lives in April when bandits invaded a market in Tsafe town.
