How bandits terrorising Abuja hide in Kaduna forest abandoned by military

As the bandits terrorising the Federal Capital Territory and neighbouring states of Kaduna, Nasarawa and Niger get more daring, Saturday PUNCH has gathered that the hoodlums are camped in the Kajuru forest in the Southern Kaduna area of Kaduna State.

Highly placed security sources confided in one of our correspondents that the forest was being used by the military for training of its personnel, but had been abandoned, thus making it a haven for the terrorists.

One of the military sources told Saturday PUNCH on Friday, “Kidnappers and other criminals terrorising the Federal Capital Territory are presently camped in the Kajuru forest. Kajuru is the headquarters of the Kajuru Local Government Area of Kaduna State. The forest has become a haven for bandits and kidnappers.

“In fact, the military had killed and arrested scores of these criminal elements in the area in the past. But you see, the more they are arrested, the more they return since the military has abandoned their camp in the town.

If you can recall, many people were killed here during the reign of former governor Nasir El-Rufai. In fact, there was a day when militants killed 32 civilians in four villages in the Kajuru Local Government Area.

“Kajuru was carved out of Chikun Local Government Area in March 1997 by the military administration of General Sani Abacha.”

The source added, “The numerous killings forced the military to have a temporary camp there, where they were strategising on how to dislodge the criminals and actually did well for the people. But since their departure after the initial return of peace to the area, terrorists, kidnappers and bandits have taken over the area.

They move freely in the town and other forests within the area. You know Southern Kaduna has a lot of forests. The bandits, having known that the military is waging a serious war against terrorists across the country, have now moved to Kajuru, where they live and meet to strategies before moving to the Federal Capital Territory and other towns to kidnap people for ransom. They are heavily armed with the intention to kill anyone who obstructs them from getting to their targets.

“Troops just come here once in a while but disappear as soon as soon as they are done with their operations. They come there to plan or when they have operations to conduct in places not too far from here.”

However, the Defence Headquarters said it was still using the Kajuru camp to train troops and launch special operations.

“Indeed, the Nigerian Army still makes effective use of all its training areas. The specific nature of training is conducted on terrains that meet the requirements of such training. Accordingly, the Kajuru training area is still very much in use and currently serves as a staging area for our Forward Operating Base in Kajuru,” the Director, Defence Media Operations, Major General Edward Buba, said.

Bandits, gunrunners informants nabbed

Meanwhile, men of the Nigeria Force have arrested four bandits, two gunrunners, and a bandits’ informant in connection with the recent abduction of 23 persons, including a family of six girls, in the FCT.

Saturday PUNCH gathered that the arrests were made between Wednesday and Friday by operatives of the FCT Special Intervention Squad and the Intelligence Response Team.

This is as the Nigerian Communications Commission, working in tandem with the NPF, has intercepted the bandits’ communications, allowing the police to monitor their conversations and movements.

The scourge of abduction, which has crippled social and economic activities in the North-West, has spread nationwide as bandits and other criminal elements have moved their operations into major cities across the country.

The hoodlums, who hitherto operated on highways and in rural communities, have in recent times escalated their attacks on residents of Lagos, Abuja, and other urban centres.

The killing of four victims abducted from the Sagwari Estate Layout in Dutse-Alhaji area, Kawu, Bwari Area Council of the FCT, Abuja, ignited a groundswell of anger on Monday, as the bandits, who kidnapped seven family members, demanded N700m for their release.

The hoodlums had last Friday killed Nabeeha Al-Kadriyar, a 400-level student of Biological Science, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and three others, over alleged delay in providing the ransom, generating anger across the country and on social media.

As of Friday night, Nabeeha’s remaining five sisters, including Najeebah, a 500-level Quantity Surveying student, and Nadherah, a 300-level Zoology student, and 14 others, were still in captivity.

The Al-Kadriyar sisters were kidnapped alongside their father, Mansoor, from their home in Zuma 1 on the outskirts of Bwari on January 11.

The captors released Mansoor and him to pay N60m for the release of his daughters.

It was learnt that the bandits later raised the ransom to N100m for each captive, which they insisted must be paid by Wednesday.

However, in a bid to secure the release of the hostages, the Al-Kadriyar family sought financial support from Nigerians.

A source privy to the development confided in our correspondent on Friday that the police had frozen the ransom paid into the bandits’ account in a bank in Kogi State to free the six girls.

The source revealed, “The police have frozen the ransom paid into the bandits’ bank account to free those girls. The family paid the money into a bank account in Kogi State, and the bank immediately contacted the police, and the account was frozen. It is the N100m raised to free those six girls whose sister was killed by the bandits alongside three others.

“The police also now know where the bandits are, how they’re communicating, and how they’ve been moving around unsuspectedly. They’re communicating with the phones of their victims. They bury the phones in the ground and move far away from the spot, then come back to dig the phone out and make calls whenever they want to communicate with their victims’ relatives for ransom.

“The Nigerian Communications Commission is assisting the police to apprehend the bandits. The NCC had intercepted the bandits’ communications, and the police have been tracking them with that and also with other intelligence-gathering devices.”