At least 44 individuals have been abducted by bandits from the Kanwa village in the Zurmi Local Government Area of Zamfara State, according to locals, who claim the bandits raided the neighbourhood at night and went from house to house robbing the residents—mostly women and children.
After years of fatal raids on communities by the local government, there has been a calm in recent years, but kidnappings and pockets of attacks have returned, making the locals uneasy once more.
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The legendary bandit commander Dankarami is suspected of carrying out the mass kidnapping.
Residents of the Zurmi, Birnin, Magaji, and Jibia axes in Zamfara and the neighbouring Katsina states have been terrorised by Dankarami.
As a result of armed criminals demanding N20 million from the community, people of Moriki town have begun efforts to collect “protection money.”
According to the locals, the criminal gang promised them that they would defend the neighbourhood from attacks if the levy was provided, so they are mobilising it from house to house to deliver to the armed men at Bello Turji’s camp.
The community of Moriki, which is situated along the Shinkafi-Kaura Namoda Road, has previously been the scene of a number of assaults, including the kidnapping of Government Girls Secondary School employees.
