At least 24 persons, including a Police Inspector, have been abducted by suspected gunmen in Kaduna.
One person was also killed during the incident.
Nine persons, including one Police Inspector Gloria Sebastine, one Alhaji Usman and seven members of his family were kidnapped at Ungwan Ma’aji, New Millennium City, Kaduna on Wednesday night.
Also, 15 persons were kidnapped in multiple bandits attack along Kaduna/Birnin Gwari road on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
The bandits on Birnin Gwari road were said to have attacked members of a family conveying corpse of their father, who died at Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria to Birnin Gwari.
They reportedly killed the driver and kidnapped the occupants of the vehicle.
At Ungwan Ma’aji, Millennium City Kaduna, where nine persons were kidnapped on Wednesday night, residents said similar incident took place last Friday.
They said a Kaduna Polytechnic lecturer identified as Tijjani and two others were kidnapped from a Police SP Maryam’s residence.
The residents said, the kidnappers had since contacted the family of the the Polytechnic lecturer and demanded N10 million ransom.
Narrating the Wednesday night incident, a eye witness who escaped being kidnapped, Ayuba Chiwar, said the gunmen, who were about 20, stormed their house around 10:24pm and whisked away her elder sister, Inspector Gloria Sebastine.
According to him: “I was was in the sitting room chatting around 10:24pm. Suddenly, I heard a hard knock on our gate. I first kept quiet, then heard another round of continuous knock, very loud. Then, I asked, who is there, nobody answered, then I peeped from the window, then I saw somebody on our fence before I could bring torchlight, he had jumped into the compound and opened gate for others.
“Then, I started shouting thief, thief but I didn’t realise they were many until I peeped again, then I saw about 10 of them inside the compound. Others were outside watching the community. By my estimation, they should be up to 20.
“Before I could say anything they were already attempting to break into the house. When I discovered they were almost succeeding, I just told my sister to go and hide inside the room, then I climbed into the ceiling.
“When they got access into the house, they started shouting, where is the boy? They were slapping my sister to produce me but she told them she didn’t know where I escaped to. So, they went away with her.
“When they were about leaving, one of them, insisted on looking for me but their superior told him to forget about me. So, as soon as they left our house, they went to another house where they kidnapped Alhaji Usman and his family.”
Meanwhile, one of the officials of the landlord association, who does not want to be mentioned, said the kidnappers on Thursday contacted the husband of Inspector Gloria Sebastine and demanded N100 million ransom.
The source said Garrison Commander of 1 Division Nigerian Army, Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan and representative of the Commissioner of Police, Umar Muri on Thursday afternoon visited the scenes of the incidents.