A serving officer of the Nigerian Customs Service, Mu’awiya Gambo, and a Catholic priest, Felix Zakari, were among those abducted when bandits attacked the Kofar Gayan Low Cost and Gwangwaje areas of Zaria in Kaduna State.
Multiple sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the bandits, who arrived on motorbikes, attacked Kofar Gayan Low Cost some minutes after 9 p.m.
A resident of Zaria, Aminu Dogo, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone that the bandits “fully equipped with guns and took away the customs officer and his son, Khalifa, after the sporadic shooting. They came to the same area last year in and wounded women and children.”
Another resident, Musa Abdulmalik, said the abducted customs officer, Mr Gambo, had always been the bandits’ target.
“I can’t say whether it was a chance or planned abduction, but he had always been their target. Twice they targeted him, but he escaped. That’s why we keep saying these people (the bandits) have informants around us. They came into the area around 9 p.m. and coordinated the attack,” he said.
A local journalist working with Queen FM radio, Saifullahi Lawal, said some of those abducted include a woman named Jamila Abbas.
READ ALSO: Bandits abduct Customs officer, demand N10m ransom
“Immediately the soldiers came, the bandits regrouped and stormed Gwargwaje and continued the attack. It was there that they killed one woman in her home. I’ve sent you her picture. The bandits shot her to death. I was in the area when they came,” he said.
Mr Lawal said the bandits abducted several people.
Mohammed Jalige, the command spokesperson, didn’t respond to calls and SMS sent to him during the attack.
Kaduna State and some parts of the North-west region are swarming with Islamist gunmen who have caused unprecedented mayhem in the areas. The gunmen have killed and maimed hundreds of residents in the areas. They have also abducted several others for ransom.
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