Parents of 39 children who were kidnapped by bandits while working on a farm in the Faskari Local Government Area of Katsina State, have pleaded with the government to help rescue their children from the captors.
The bandit had in their numbers on Sunday, invaded the farm where a number of people including boys and girls were working and abducted at least 39 of them.
A source in the Mairuwa community, one of the worst hit during the attack said the bandits surrounded the farm and started shooting sporadically before abducting the labourers.
He said the representative of the farm owner had mobilised the children after paying a levy of N1m to the bandits, adding that most of the adults working on the farm with the children were able to escape during the attack.
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The source said;
“They demanded N3m from the owner for him to be able to harvest his produce, he gave them N1 million as part payment and decided to begin the work before completing the money, but unfortunately the bandits did not accept that. In our village, Mairuwa, alone we have 33 among the victims including young ladies who are due for marriage.”
Another resident of Mairuwa said;
“The owner of the farm is a Funtua resident, but his representative is residing here in Mairuwa village. As we speak, the bandits have used the cell phone of one of the victims to call demanding a ransom of N30 million.
“They said they were at the farm to abduct the owner or his representative but because they did not meet either of them they decided to kidnap those working for them.”
SP Gambo Isah, the police spokesman in Katsina, assured that there was an ongoing effort by the police to rescue the victims with synergy with the state government and other security agencies.
It was further learnt that six of the victims regained freedom on Tuesday.
