No fewer than 22 residents of Anguwar Maji in Jere town along the Abuja-Kaduna highway have been abducted by bandits.

The latest abduction comes barely 24 hours after the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, visited and deployed police operatives to the ever-busy expressway.

The Star had reported that the IGP, after patrolling the entire 163km stretch of Abuja-Kaduna highway, deployed police operatives to the expressway.

The operatives were drawn from the Police Mobile Force (PMF), Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Forces (SF), Intelligence Response Team (IRT), and the Special Tactical Squad (STS).

However, a resident of Anguwar Maji, identified as Shehu Bala, disclosed that armed bandits on Sunday abducted no fewer than 22 villagers.

Bala, who disclosed that the incident occurred around 11 pm on Sunday, said the bandits, in their large numbers, attacked the community, adding that some of the assailants wore army uniforms.

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He revealed that the gunmen moved from house to house and woke their victims up before they marched them into the bush at gunpoint.

He, however, said one among the 22 kidnapped victims escaped from the bandits while being led into the bush.

Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Police Command had yet to react to the incident as of the time of filing this report.

The Star