By Correspondent in Minna
The wave of kidnapping sweeping through some local government areas of Niger state continued on Saturday with over a hundred children from Teggina community in Rafi Local Government Area of the state abducted by armed bandits.
The Reporters gathered that the children who were attending Islamiyya class at the Salihu Tanko Islammiya schools.when they were stormed in their school premises and taking to the bush by the criminals.
were on Saturday, abducted by the criminals.
The correspondent of The Reporters further gathered that bandits, said to have first attacked some residents of the area, forced the busy Teggina road to become a ghost town.
They were also said to have arrived the area in motorcycles, in large number, armed with sophisticated weapons to carry out their henious crime against humanity.
An eye witness account told our correspondent that the armed men, in broad day light, operated freely throughout late evening of Saturday, causing obstruction to vehicular movement and commuters took to their heels for safety.
The source added that after some minutes of operating and shooting sporadically into the air, to scare away possible intruders along the highway, the armed bandits headed to the school rounded-up the pupils and marched them into the nearby bush.
He also told our Correspondent that while the pupils were being marched into the bush by one group, some of the pupils too young to walk the long distance into the unknown were left behind while the second group continued their operation along the highway.
The Director-General of Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), Alhaji Ahmed Ibrahim Inga, confirmed the incident, adding that the state government was already taking action on the matter.
Also, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the Police Command in the state, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident, adding that the Command had mobilized all its tactical teams, including operation puff 2, to the location for immediate rescue of the victims.
Abiodun,who appealed also called for calm added that the Police, with the support of other security agencies, were doing all within their power to ensure that the children regain freedom unhurt.
The online publication reports that hardly a week or month passes without the state recording one form of kidnapping or the other.
This negative development made the Governor of the state, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, to call on the federal government for the rescue some time ago, assuring that the was also doing its best to arrest the ugly trend.
