The Nigerian Police have said the successful rescue attempt of four National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members was accomplished through the collaborative efforts of the repentant bandits and Nigerian Military personnel.

Four corps members were kidnapped on March 9 along the Funtua-Gusau Road on their way to NYSC Orientation Camp, Gusau, in Zamfara State. They were later rescued by the security personnel on March 11.

Speaking to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday morning, on how the operation was carried out, the spokesperson of Katsina State police, Isah Gambo, said the bandits, six in total, were located in their hideout while the ‘repentant bandits’ helped in combing the nooks and cranny of the given coordinates till success was attained.

He confirmed to this reporter that the six bandits were instantly shot dead during the operation.

Mr Gambo added that a kidnapped civilian travelling from Gusau was rescued along with the four NYSC corp members identified as Oladehin Paul, Ojo Temitope, Ojewale Elizabeth, and Adenigbuyan Adegboyega while “two rifles, one AK-47 and one LR rifle were recovered from the bandits.

“Six of them were killed (all the bandits) at that time. Their corpses are in custody of the coffers. There was one civilian that was also rescued along with them, he was not a passenger (in) the same vehicle. He was found along with the victims, the corps members,” he told this reporter.

“Six of them were instantly killed by the joint effort of the Nigerian Police, the Military and the repentant bandits.

“We work together with them (the repentant bandits). They know the forest very well. When we got the coordinates of the bandits’ location, we went together with them,” he added.