Five days after suspected bandits abducted the regional accountant of the Nigerian Customs Service in charge of Kano and Jigawa States, the victim is said to have escaped.
Mahassan Lawal was reportedly abducted on February 11 in his country home in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State by a large number of bandits.
A brother to the officer, Umar Lawal, told Channels on Thursday that Lawal escaped on Wednesday night after the bandits had been paid N5 million ransom. He said the kidnappers had demanded additional N5 million.
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“They only collected the initial N5million that we paid, but we were preparing to pay the balance before he escaped from them,” Umar said.
Tsafe LGA has remained one of Zamfara’s most insecure areas with notable records of abductions by bandits/terrorists.
On February 13, armed men had abducted a pregnant woman and five others in Tsafe. The nine months pregnant woman was said to have died two days after in her captors’ den.
The area is reportedly under the siege of terrorists as many residents have fled out of their homes while those who stayed behind are made to pay monthly levy/fines to the bandits.