Abubakar Na’Allah, a local resident, claimed the bandits demanded N850,000 from the relatives of the 85 victims by asking them to contribute N10,000 apiece.
According to The PUNCH, up to 85 of the hostages taken by bandits in Zamfara State’s Wanzamai village’s Tsafe Local Government Area are still being held.
The PUNCH learned on Tuesday that the bandits had increased their demand for N850,000 in ransom in order to purchase two motorcycles to replace those that were wrecked during a military raid on their stronghold.
Abubakar Na’Allah, a local who spoke over the phone with The PUNCH, claimed that the bandits had sent a message to the relatives of the 85 abductees requesting that they raise N850,000 by paying N10,000 each.
You know that the criminals had previously reduced the ransom from N50 million to N1.7 million, but they have now abruptly altered their minds and demanded that we pay an additional N850,000. Na’Allah stated.
In a confrontation, military personnel destroyed two motorcycles that belonged to robbers; as a result, the bandits are demanding payment from the Wanzamai community for the wrecked motorcycles.
The community had raised the N1.7 million that the bandits had originally asked, according to Na’Allah, and was prepared to go to the camp and make the payment when they received the most recent word that an additional N850, 000 was needed.
We hoped to pay the N1.7 million the criminals originally requested by the deadline they gave us, but due to this unfortunate event, we now need to find other ways to raise the additional N850,000,” he stated.
The state government declared that it would not comply with the bandits’ demand that they remove military personnel from Wanzamai hamlet in exchange for their releasing the victims they had kidnapped.
DIG retired Mamman Tsafe, the state’s commissioner for security, told The PUNCH that “we will not be intimidated” and “the bandits’ pressure won’t force us to change our security arrangements.”