Bandits contact families of Augwar Bulus kidnap victims to negotiate ransom

Negotiations have commenced with families of the victims kidnapped in the Angwar Bulus community in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State after the failure of collective bargaining with bandits.

Angwar Bulus community was invaded on 31st March 2022 by terrorists during which 26 people were abducted and two killed that same night.

The terrorists had demanded N20 million as ransom from the community before the 26 victims held in captivity could regain their freedom.

Recall that three persons were killed by the bandits after the community failed to raise the required ransom.

The community leaders were said to have retrieved the three corpses at the highway where they were dumped by the bandits a few days ago.

One of the victims, who was seriously sick, was released by the terrorists on health grounds.

The bandits had set 19th April, 2022 as the deadline for the community to pay the ransom or have more of the remaining 22 kidnap victims killed.

The Chief of the community, Gideon Haruna Goni disclosed said the threat threw the community into confusion and the families went in search of money to be able to rescue their loved ones.

According to him, “We are all confused because the bandits are now dealing with individual family members since the whole community could not raise the N20 million to secure the victims. We now leave everything in God’s hand.”

He confirmed that the terrorists have started contacting families to pay money for the release of their relatives.

The Chief appealed to Kaduna and federal governments to create a military outpost to protect the community from the incessant attacks by the terrorists.