360 Kaduna residents have lost their lives to bandits in first quarter of 2022 – Commissioner

The Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Mr Samuel Aruwan, says 360 persons were killed between January and March 2022 through banditry and communal clashes.

The commissioner made this known when he presented the 2022 First Quarter Report on security to the state governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai, on Thursday in Kaduna.

He said that 1,389 persons were kidnapped during the period under review within Kaduna Central Senatorial District.

Aruwan said 169 persons were kidnapped from Birnin Gwari, Giwa recorded 158, Igabi 263, Chikun 287 and Kajuru had 203 people kidnapped from the Local Government Area.

According to him, no fewer than 249 people were kidnapped due to banditry and other violent attacks in the Southern Kaduna Senatorial District within the same period under review.

The commissioner also said 10 women, including six minors, were reported to have been raped by bandits within the same period.

He explained that 258 citizens where injured across the state due to banditry, communal clashes, saying that 38 of these figures were women and 11 below the age of 18.

Aruwan said 3,251 animals were rustled during the period, out of which 3,137 were stolen from Kaduna Central, accounting for 97 per cent of the total.

“Some 41 bandits were neutralized by the ground force while more than 60 were neutralized through various air strikes carried out at identified bandit camps within the state.

“Arms intercepted included 18 AK47 rifles, 7 sub-machine guns, 5 pump action rifles and ammunition which includes 22 AK47 magazines, 254 pump action cartridges, and 1,195 rounds of live ammunition,’’ he said.

The commissioner said that bandits and other criminals carried out their attacks under the influence of various substances, adding that the purchase of drugs by bandits constitutes a major component of their expenditure.

Aruwa further stated that the NDLEA, during the period, arrested several suspected drug traffickers and users, including 223 male and 8 females.

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“The state government will continue to collaborate with federal security agencies and stakeholders in their operations and support respectively within the state.

“The state government further called for the establishment of a theatre to tackle terrorism and banditry in the Northwest, just like what exists in the Northeast,’’ he said.

“State government will continue to seek the active collaboration of citizens in its efforts against banditry and all forms of insecurity through the volunteering of useful information on suspicious activities,’’ he said.