It was gathered that the people were waylaid and abducted on their way from the weekly Beji market by the bandits and whisked them away to an unknown destination.
An eye witness called in a radio phone-in programme to brief the Secretary to the Niger State Government, Ahmed Matane, of the abduction.
The caller who identified himself as Umar stated that he called in to inform the SSG of the situation because the security agencies in the state were unaware of the abduction, adding that as a result, no move had been made to rescue the victims.
While responding to the caller, the SSG affirmed that there had been several incidences of underreported abductions in the state saying that most cases were not reported through the conventional channels.
Matane said the state government was unaware of the abduction but would take immediate action now that it had been brought to its notice to ensure that the abductees were rescued and reunited with their family.
He said, “This is one of the underreporting that we are talking about. Until now that I am hearing this, we never knew of these people who were kidnapped along Beji-Manta road. But now that we have been alerted, we will do something about it.”
The SSG urged people to be more security conscious, adding that people must not ply the roads at any time especially during market days.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Niger State Command, Wasiu Abiodun, said he was going to get back to our reporter but as of the time of filing this report, he has yet to take his calls.
