Seven members of a family have reportedly been abducted by armed bandits in the Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in a clash that also caused injuries to two policemen.
The abduction, which occurred on Wednesday, also resulted in the death of a local leader who led a group of policemen to confront the kidnappers.
According to reports, the bandits, who are yet to be identified, stormed the residence of the family around 1:00 am and forcibly took away seven members, including women and children. The victims have been identified as members of the same family residing in the area.
It was revealed that the police officers exchanged gunfire with the bandits, while two police officers sustained gunshot wounds during the face-off.
The incident took a tragic turn when a middle-aged man, identified only as Alhaji, led a group of policemen to confront the kidnappers. However, the bandits were not deterred and opened fire on Alhaji and his team, leaving two policemen with bullet injuries. Alhaji was fatally shot during the exchange of gunfire.
According to the punch, a resident of Bwari who spoke to our correspondent on the telephone on Friday said the incident happened in the early hours of Wednesday when the bandits invaded the Zuma 1 area in the Bwari central ward of the council.
“It was when the owner of the house suspected strange sounds and movements around his house that he immediately called his brother, who is popularly known as Alhaji, to alert the police,” he said as quoted by the punch.
“The bandits eventually succeeded in whisking away the man and his family members, making seven of them, and the distance from the victims’ house to where the police engaged the bandits is far, and two policemen were shot and sustained serious injuries.
“The truth is that Bwari Area Council is under siege because for the past two weeks now, bandits have been moving from one community to another killing and abducting people. Unfortunately, his brother, Alhaji was shot dead during the shootout.”
He further revealed that the bandits positioned themselves at strategic places after identifying the victims’ home, adding that the victims upon suspecting strange sounds and movements in the vicinity, contacted to a relative identified as Alhaji (now deceased), who informed the police about the development.
This latest incident comes at a time when there has been an upsurge in cases of kidnapping and banditry in various parts of Nigeria. The FCT has not been spared from these crimes, with several high-profile kidnappings reported in recent months.
The FCT Police Command is yet confirmed the incident
