Gunmen have kidnapped no fewer than eight charcoal burners in the Nyalun community, Bashar District, of Wase Local Government Area of Plateau State.
Chronicle NG gathered that the incident occurred on Tuesday evening as the victims were returning home after processing charcoal on the outskirts of the community.
Speaking in an interview with PUNCH, a youth leader in Wase, Shapi’i Sambo, confirmed the incident on Wednesday.
He stated that the kidnappers initially abducted 10 occupants of the vehicle but later released two in Garga, Kanam Local Government Area, to relay a ransom demand.
“The victims were returning around 7:30 p.m. when the perpetrators suddenly stopped their vehicle, which was loaded with charcoal, and took them away.
“It is a shocking incident because the victims were struggling to make ends meet when this happened,” the youth leader said.
He listed the abducted victims as Hassan Sa’idu, Shamsudden Abubakar, Usamatu Yakubu, Dayyabu Usman Waziri, Inkilulu Dauda, Ado Sambo, Sule Dahiru, and Umar Amadu.
Sambo stated that the gunmen were thought to have taken the victims into the Kukawa jungle, a popular refuge for criminal gangs.
Mummuni Musa, one of the two people released, claimed that the victims were tied up before he and another person were liberated to convey the ransom message.
“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,” the man claimed.
In recent years, communities in the Wase and Kanam Local Government Areas have reported numerous incidences of kidnapping and banditry.
The latest incident occurred almost two weeks after militants killed troops and vigilantes in Kanam Local Government Area.
