Dare Babalola
A 16-year-old boy alongside six girls have been abducted from Gidan -Bijimi in Kawu ward of Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to Daily Trust, Gidan-Bijimi shares a boundary with Marke village near the Kaduna State border.
A resident of Kawu, Suleiman Shuaibu, confirmed the incident to the Daily Trust via telephone on Thursday morning.
According to him, bandits wielding AK-47 rifles stormed two houses in the community at approximately 9:47 pm, seizing six young girls and a 16-year-old boy amid shooting.
He said residents of the community were thrown into pandemonium.
He continued that some vigilantes in the community tried to engage the bandits but were forced to run for cover as a result of the superior fire power.
Shuaibu said the abducted girls were between the ages of 17 and 23 years.
“It was around 9:53 pm when a call came from Gidan -Bijimi community that some bandits invaded the village and abducted six young girls, unfortunately my cousin sister happened to be among the victims,”he said.
He said some residents were forced to flee their homes after the incident, even as he said contact is yet to be established with the abductors.
SP Josephine Adeh, spokeswoman of the FCT Police Command, did not respond to calls put across to her and did not also reply to text message as at the time of filling the report.
Recall that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, had on Tuesday, directed that security be beefed up around Abuja, with improved surveillance at all borders with neighboring states and entry points.
Following the directive, the operation sweep of a joint military taskforce that comprised of police, Department of State Services (DSS) and other security agencies was deployed to different parts of the nations capital.
CP Miller G Dantawaye, the FCT police commissioner, who addressed the joints security team had charged them to create the synergy required to eliminate crimes and criminalities across the FCT.
The CP had noted that the FCT Minister Wike who directed the operation had also provided enough logistics to ensure its success and guarantee adequate safety and security for the residents of the territory.
