Gunmen have abducted eight charcoal workers in the Nyalun community, Bashar District of Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State, in the latest security breach in the state.
PUNCH reported that the victims were seized on Tuesday evening while returning from charcoal processing sites on the outskirts of the community, with the attackers intercepting their vehicle at about 7:30 p.m.
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A youth leader in Wase, Shapi’i Sambo, who confirmed the incident, said the assailants initially abducted 10 persons but later released two to convey a ransom demand.
“The victims were returning around 7:30 p.m. when the perpetrators suddenly stopped their vehicle loaded with charcoal and took them away,” Mr Sambo said, adding that the development has heightened fear among residents.
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He identified the abducted persons as Hassan Sa’idu, Shamsudden Abubakar, Usamatu Yakubu, Dayyabu Usman Waziri, Inkilulu Dauda, Ado Sambo, Sule Dahiru and Umar Amadu.
According to him, the gunmen are believed to have taken the victims into the Kukawa bush, a hideout for criminal groups operating in parts of Plateau.
One of the two victims released, Mummuni Musa, said the kidnappers tied up all the other victims before letting him and another person go with instructions.
“The kidnappers told us to go home and tell the owner of the vehicle to sell it and pay the ransom for the eight persons,” he said.
The abduction comes barely two days after the Palm Sunday attack in the Angwan Rukuba community in Jos North Local Government Area, where more than 20 people were killed by gunmen.
The back-to-back incidents have raised fresh concerns about the security situation in Plateau State, despite recent assurances by the federal government that the situation is under control.
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The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, had said security agencies were responding effectively to threats in the state, noting that troops had been deployed and that operations had been intensified to track perpetrators of violence.
Wase and Kanam local government areas have, in recent years, recorded repeated incidents of kidnapping and banditry, with criminal groups exploiting forested areas to carry out attacks and evade security forces.
Efforts to obtain an official response from the Plateau State Police Command were unsuccessful, as calls to the spokesperson, Alfred Alabo, went unanswered as of the time of filing this report.
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