Two retired police officers and three others out of the over 60 people kidnapped from Adunu in the Paikoro Local Government Area and Beni in Munaya Local Government of Niger State, have been killed by bandits over unpaid ransoms.
It was gathered that the bandits killed the victims on Monday evening to send a warning to the communities on the fate of other victims should the ransom of N100m demanded be delayed further.
According to PUNCH, a resident of Adunu, Mallam Kabiru Bawa said three women were released on Tuesday by the bandits, after being raped, to take the message of the execution home.
“We got to know that the five men have been killed when three of the women kidnapped were released after they had been raped for almost two weeks.
“The women said those killed were a retired police officer, Mr. Moses Tanko, aka Arada System, and another serving police officer, whose name they didn’t know,” Bawa said.
The bandits had reportedly given a deadline of Sunday, March 26, for the ransom of N100m, which was reduced from N200m initially demanded.
It was gathered that the community’s inability to raise the money led to the execution of the five men.
Bawa said the released women informed the community that the bandits were threaning kill more of the victims.
He added that the three others who were executed were abducted from Beni community in Munya local government area of the state.
The victims were abducted two weeks ago from both local government areas of the state.
Calls to the Niger State Commissioner of Internal Security and Humanitarian Affairs, Emmanuel Umar, were unproductive as one of his mobile lines wasn’t reachable while he busied the other when it rang.
The state Police Command is yet to issue an official statement while calls to the Police Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Wasiu, went unanswered.