Panic as gunmen kidnap four in Abuja community

There was tension on Monday night when gunmen invaded Bmuko, a community at Dutse Baupma in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and kidnapped four residents.

One of the residents of the community, an eyewitness, Isah, said the gunmen invaded the area around 11: 50 pm and headed to the residence of one Engineer Patrick, whose wife and brother were among those kidnapped.

According to him, the kidnappers who were more than 30 in numbers stormed Zone C, Road 5 of the community and shot sporadically before they broke into the house of the engineer and abducted two of the family members.

He explained: “From the engineer’s house, after carrying his wife and brother, they divided themselves into two groups. One group went towards the riverside that leads to Kubwa and Bwari, while the other group went towards the hillside.

“It was the group going towards the hillside that stopped at a nearby house, where they kidnapped a Pastor and another young man. We could not do anything, we were scared to death during the period of the operation”.

One of the leaders of the community, who preferred anonymity said they heard gunshots few minutes to 12am and one of the landlords living amongst them sent a voice note on their community platform that they were being attacked.

He said: “Swiftly, our security personnel came down, we had to make calls to the FCDA Police station, luckily we had intervention from them, and soldiers also came to our rescue. However, the whole thing turned to something else, as nobody was arrested.

“But the kidnappers went with three or four people. As we speak, the soldiers that went in search of them have returned without rescuing them. The policemen are still in the bush searching for them.

“We have been demanding for Police outpost here in the Bmuko community, this is a populated environment. Whatever is happening here is not out of the knowledge of the security architecture of the FCT”.

He emphasised that if they have Police patrolling at least three to four times in a week, it will reduce crime in the community.

“The wife and brother of one Engineer Patrick were also among the people that were kidnapped, and also a Pastor. The kidnappers came with AK47, because some of the guys during the night search picked up about two or three bullets of AK47,” he said.

When contacted to confirm the incident, the FCT Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh promised to get back to our correspondent but as at when filing this report, she was yet to respond.