Suspected bandits have reportedly kidnapped over 40 traders and wedding guests along the Sokoto-Zamfara road on Saturday.
This was made known by the Zamfara State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Muhammad Shehu, in a statement on Sunday.
He said the victims were returning from a wedding in Tambuwal local government area of Sokoto State when they ran into an ambush mounted on the road by the bandits.
“The wedding guests were returning to Zamfara around 6pm from a wedding in Tambuwal local government area of Sokoto State when they were waylaid by the bandits who mounted a road block on the expressway.
“The gunmen shot sporadically at the vehicles they were travelling in and abducted about 40 people while around 20 managed to escape,” the police spokesman said.
He added that the state Police Commissioner has despatched a crack team of officers to the area to comb the forests and rescue the victims.
A victim who managed to escape the ambush said some of those who were abducted were traders who sold mobile phones at the Bebeji Plaza Market in Zamfara State who had traveled to Sokoto for a wedding.
The chairman of the phone vendors who spoke on the abduction of his members, said the traders were abducted on their way back from a wedding in Sokoto in the evening of Saturday.
He explained that the traders mumbering about 60 were traveling in a 40-passenger Toyota coaster bus and an 18-passenger hiace bus when they ran into the bandits who demolized their vehicles with bullets before abducting about 40 of them while the others managed to escape.
“They ran into the bandits on Saturday evening between Tureta and Bakura along the Sokoto-Zamfara road after leaving the wedding venue in Tambuwal,” he said.
