On Tuesday morning, there was a breath of relief in Kuchi Community, Munya Local Government Area, Niger State, as no less than 40 of the 150 victims kidnapped three weeks ago were released.
The released of this 40 victims, mostly women and children however came with a heavy cost for members of the community who were made to part away with six Honda product motorcycles each valued about N1.2million, and N2million cash as ransom.
A source close to the Kuchi Community, who revealed this on Tuesday, stated that the Bandits are still holding 110 individuals captive.
It was further gathered that the Bandits are equally demanding for another six motorcycles and N2million cash for the release of another batch of 40 hostages even though negotiations are still ongoing between the Bandits and the community.
It could be recalled that the Bandits in their numbers invaded the community three weeks ago and unleashed terror on the people, killing seven people including four security agents and went away with no fewer than 150 villagers.
Shops, houses and food barms were freely looted in an operation, the villagers said lasted for over three hours without any resistance.
Two weeks after the abduction, the Bandits demanded N150million ransom for the release of the victims, after rejecting the N100,000 offered by the community for each victim.
“We have been negotiating with them (Bandits) but finally they agreed to collect six Honda motorcycles and N2million for the release of two groups totalling 40 in number.
“The 150 people they abducted were divided into six groups, and they said we should bring six Honda motorcycles and N2million cash for each of the groups. This is after they rejected our initial offer of N100,000 of each person. They have released two groups, remaining four groups”, our source said.
According to sources, since the attack occured three weeks ago no single government official or security agents have visited the community for on the spot assessment of what happened, adding”the community is left without security at the moment and it has remained deserted”.