One person has been reported dead and 21 others mostly women and children abducted in Batsari Local Government Area of Katsina State.
An eyewitness told Channels Television that the armed bandits arrived in Batsari town at about 10:20 pm on Tuesday shooting sporadically and eventually abducted 21 persons.
Batsari is one of the Frontline Local Government Areas in Katsina State sharing borders with the dreaded Rugu forest where activities of armed bandits are persistently on the increase since the resurgence of banditry, cattle rustling, and kidnapping for ransom in the state.
The eyewitness explained that the hoodlums after rustling dozens of cattle, properties, and mobile phones worth millions of naira also killed a refugee of Bakon Zabuwa village, identified as Alhaji Hassan.
The police authorities in Katsina State are yet to confirm the incident as phone calls to the spokesperson, Gambo Isah were not responded to.
The command earlier on Tuesday night confirmed the abduction of a judge by gunmen at a Shari’a Court located at Baure Zaka villages in Safana Local Government Area of the State.
The judge, Alhaji Husaini Sama’ila, was kidnapped around 3:00 pm on Tuesday, while on a personal visit to the court which was relocated to Safana for security purposes.
The judge, who was recently moved to Safana town to continue to deliver justice because of the worsening insecurity challenges bedeviling the two villages where the court was established earlier.
The police spokesman, SP Gambo Isah explained to Channels Television that the village where the hoodlums kidnapped the judge is located close to the dreaded Rugu forest.
“As you all know, the court has not been on the session since the commencement of the strike action embarked by the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN).
“The judge took the risk and went to the court. He didn’t inform the police about his going to the court knowing fully that the place is not secured enough,” he said.
He added that an investigation will be launched to unveil the reasons why the abducted judge took the risk knowing fully that the village is not secured enough.
