The Deputy Chairman of Zamfara State Committee on finding a lasting solution to Armed Banditry, Dr. Abdullahi Shinkafi, says bandits no longer have food to feed their kidnap victims and are releasing them freely without collecting ransom.
Shinkafi said this during an interview on Saturday in Gusau while hailing the efforts of the state government aimed at tackling the activities of bandits in the north-western state.
“There were some people who were kidnapped, 11 of them. They released one and told them to bring N200,000 each. Before they started negotiating, (they demanded) N20 million per person,” he said.
“When the relatives of the victims refused to send the money, they left with no option than to release them. They said they don’t have food to feed them that some have started dying in captivity.
“So it is yielding a lot of results and biting them very hard. The sustainability of these security measures will help in downgrading the activities of bandits in Zamfara State.”
Shinkafi added that due to the telecommunications shutdown, bandits wrote letters to the people of Shinkafi and the Acting Emir of Zurmi, using receipts of their purchased motorcycles to demand ransom for kidnapped victims.
He also confirmed that the task force in the state has traced the address of the motorcycle company in Kano State and arrests have been made.
