The operatives of the Bauchi State Police Command have rescued three people, including pastor kidnapped by bandits who invaded Raddi village via Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State on Wednesday.
According to The PUNCH, this was made known in a statement by the state Police Command Spokesperson, SP Ahmed Wakil, made available to journalists on Wednesday.
Wakil explained that the bandits had invaded the house of one Yakubu Makeri, of Yagi village via Rahama ward, with the intention of attacking him but a team of operatives attached to Rishi Police Divisional Headquarters in conjunction with local vigilantes swiftly moved to the scene and engaged the bandits in a gun battle.
The statement read, “On November 29, 2023 at about 1am, one sabitu ‘m’ of Kadade village via Toro LGA of Bauchi State reported that on the same date at about 12.30am, an unknown number of bandits invaded their village and stormed the house of one Yakubu Ya’u Makeri, male, of Yagi village via Rahama ward.
“A team of operatives attached to Rishi Police Divisional Headquarters in conjunction with local vigilantes swiftly moved to the scene and engaged the bandit.
“The operatives overpowered the bandits in a gun duel. As a result, one of the bandits was neutralised while the remaining scampered and abandoned their mission.
“However, during the encounter, the operatives succeeded in rescuing three kidnapped victims, namely: Pastor Bala, male (50), Keziya Ayuba (50) and Sunday Ayuba, (40) all of Raddi village via Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
“The aforementioned victims were confirmed to have been kidnapped from their village in Jos, Plateau State.”
The PPRO stressed that the Commissioner of Police has ordered the Divisional Police Officer to intensify wider patrol across the area in a bid to apprehend the fleeing bandits so they can face the full wrath of the law.