Gunmen kill 5 kidnap victims after ransom deadline passes

_Threaten to kill more

VOICE AIR MEDIA News Update

After about two weeks in captivity, five out of the over 60 people abducted from the Adunu in Kafin-Koro district of Paikoro and Beni in Munya Local Government Areas of Niger State have been executed by their abductors for failing to meet the deadline for the payment of N100 million ransom they demanded.

Among those killed is a retired police officer, Mr. Moses Tanko, aka Arada System, and another serving police officer whose name was not immediately ascertained at the time of filing this report. The two victims were among those abducted from the Adunu village two weeks ago.

A source close to the District Head of Adunu, Mallam Kabiru Bawa, told Daily Sun that three women, who were set free by the bandits after being raped, came back to the community to tell the news of the execution of the five people.

They also disclosed that the bandits threatened that more victims would be killed if their demand of the N100 million was not met.

The three others, one Igbo, Yoruba and a Gbagy were among those abducted from the Beni community in Munya local government area of the state. The gunmen, numbering about 100, invaded the Adunu and Beni communities in broad daylight and sacked the two communities, killing a medical practitioner, while over 60 people, including women and children, were taken away.

A source close to the communities said those who could afford between N10,000 to N20,000 cash, in old or new naira notes, were set free by the gunmen during the raid. It was further gathered that eight people, including a son of the District Head and three women, escaped when the bandits ran into an ambush by the Joint Security Task Force at the Itu village in Munya local government on their way to their destination with their victims.

Our source said the bandits had earlier demanded N200 million for the release of their victims who were moved from Birnin Gwari forest to Zamfara forest, but later reduced it to N100 million and last Sunday as deadline. Five of the victims were, however, executed on Monday evening, while the women were released on Tuesday to go and inform the community about the execution.

The state police command was yet to issue a statement on the latest development at the time of filing this report, and all efforts to get confirmation from the Commissioner for Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Umar, could not yield any result as his phone was not going through.