Gunmen abduct 18 traders in Niger

18 traders have been abducted by unknown gunmen in Rafi local government of Niger state.

The traders were travelling from Pandogari town in the Rafi Local Government Area of Niger State to Bassa village for the weekly market.

The incident was said to have occurred on Saturday last week.

The traders were in an 18 sitter bus when they ran into a blockade by the gunmen who were shooting sporadically.

One of the eyewitnesses on Tuesday said that the traders were mostly women and a few men.

The eyewitness said the traders were forced into a waiting bus and driven into the bush.

The Eyewitness noted that this was not the first time that such an incident would occur, “it has now become a regular feature that no one is doing anything about”

It was gathered that most of the traders had contacted their families asking them to pay the ransom demanded to secure their release.

The eyewitness said that the ransom been demanded was between N200,000 and N500,000 depending on their ‘personality’.

“They are asking the relations to pay the ransom at a location as far as Funtua town in Katsina state to avoid being traced by the police. Some of the traders’ families are already complying”, the source said.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mohammad Abubakar said that they have heard about the incident but no official report has been made.

” We are investigating the matter, we will get back to you when we get official report.”