Kidnappers Storm Abuja Estate, Abduct Couple, Other

Barely eight months after kidnappers invaded Grow Homes Estate, along Kuchibiyi in the Kubwa area of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and abducted no fewer than nine residents, they returned on Thursday night and captured three persons.

The victims – a couple and a man, were kidnapped from two separate apartments in the estate.

When our reporter visited the area on Friday morning, residents were apprehensive.

The gunmen, it was gathered, escaped through the bush track, which links the community to another village.

A security source at the estate, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said after storming the area around 9pm, the gunmen shot sporadically into the air to scare people away.

Narrating how the incident happened, the source said: “On Thursday around 9pm, we (vigilante) heard a gunshot. After hearing the sound, we and some Nigeria Mobile Police (MOPOL) officers searched around to locate it.

“On our way, we saw one of us. He told us they were kidnappers, numbering over 20. He was shot in his hand. At that point, we heard another gunshot. They were shooting at us, while the officers were shooting too.

“We had to stop the counter attack because of their number. They took away three persons; a couple and a man. The kidnappers haven’t contacted anyone yet.”

A resident of the area, Bello Mohammed, said the kidnappers disconnected the alert systems of the houses attacked before whisking their victims away.

When contacted, Josephine Adeh, Police Public Relations Officer of the FCT, said she would get back to our reporter, but had yet to do so as at the time of filing this report.

Daily Trust