Five infants among the 17 villagers abducted by bandits a month ago in Anguwar Danlele and Anguwar Bawa villages, located within the Randagi ward of the Birnin Gwari Local Government Area of Kaduna have died in captivity.

It could be recalled that on October 7th, 17 villagers, including the infants’ mothers, were taken into the bush by the bandits.

It was learnt that the bandits initially demanded a ransom of N19 million for all the victims. However, after the payment was made, they released only four people and then demanded an additional ransom.

Shehu Randagi, a resident and youth leader, said the bandits called to inform the community that the five infants in captivity had perished because their mothers fell ill and couldn’t breastfeed them.

He expressed the villagers’ plight, stating that most of them lacked the means to raise another ransom for their loved ones still held by the bandits, as they had sold all their assets to raise the initial payment.

According to Shehu, the bandits struck again in a nearby village called Unguwar Algaita, abducting 12 more villagers, including women and adults, during an incident that occurred on Tuesday night.

He explained that the bandits unleashed terror by firing shots indiscriminately, causing fear among the residents.

Shehu also commended the soldiers who recently conducted a special operation in the area, which resulted in the reported killing of many bandits around the Doka local market on the Funtua-Birnin Gwari highway axis.

He urged the soldiers to maintain their presence in the villages for at least two weeks after operations to prevent the bandits from returning and terrorising the innocent villagers.

There has been no official response from the police command regarding the latest kidnapping incident in the area.

The Command Public Relations Officer, ASP Mansir Hassan, could not be reached by phone. (Text, excluding headline: Daily Trust)