Daredevil cattle rustlers have stolen 625 cattle and
raped a teenager in Kaduna and Abuja, promising that they would return
to abduct the women and kill the men in the communities.
Daily
Trust, reported that in Nigeria's capital city Abuja, a 15-year-old
girl whose father had nothing to offer the bandits was raped while 205
cattle were taken away.
Simmilarly, in Jere town,
Kaduna, over 300 heads of cattle and dozens of goats and sheep were
stolen just days after residents of Gidan Madu and Aribi communities
lost 48 and 57 cattle respectively to the ruthless rustlers.
One
of the victims, Abdullahi Ja’e, said the raiders operated at night
heavily armed, moving from camp to camp where they take way herds of
cattle between 43 and 80 at a time.
“The thieves
were in two groups and operated in many locations around Jere town. The
first group launched their attack near Chinka village along the
Jere-Kagarko road around 9:30pm.
"At one Fulani
camp near Chinka, they stole about 77 cattle; from there they moved to a
nearby Fulani settlement and moved away over 80 cattle as well as
dozens of goats and sheep,” Ja'e said.
Ja'e also said the raiders promised to return in month’s time to kill people and abduct women.
“Those
wearing masks were actually the ones speaking and at Gidan Kwasau they
told the people that another gang will return in a month’s time to kill
people and abduct women."
Asked how the criminals
are able to act with such impunity, Ja’e said it was probably due to the
presence of informants living among the people.
“The
thieves told the herders that they have informants all over the place
who could take them to anyone who disclose their identity and I have no
doubt about what they said," a source said.
Meanwhile, the Police say they are doing everything to control the situation.