***Remaining 5 still in captivity
Five out of the 10 passengers of the Niger State Transport Authority (NSTA) who were abducted two weeks ago while traveling to Katsina State have regained their freedom after payment of undisclosed amount of money as ransom.
About five other passengers are still being held in the abductors den.
Our correspondent gathered that the kidnappers are demanding N5million each for their release.
A staff of the transport authority who spoke to our correspondent in confidence on the incident disclosed that 18 passengers boarded the vehicle on the fateful day to travel to Katsina State but ran into a road block mounted by the Bandits in a village about 20 kilometers to Katsina.
According to him, the driver of the 18 seater bus who was said to be plying the road for the first time and seven other passengers escaped into the bush while the remaining 10 were taken into the forest by their abductors.
He said five of the victims have been freed after their families met the demands of the gunmen, adding that “we have not heard anything about the remaining five people, and it’s about two weeks now since the incident occured”.
However a senior staff of the transport authority who did not want his name in print told our correspondent that though the vehicle does not belong to the authority, it however loaded from their park due to high volume of freight (traffic of passengers)
“We had high traffic of passengers which our vehicles could not meet up, so we decided to allow another vehicle to commute then which has been the normal practice here.
“The vehicle in question does not belong to NSTA but it loaded from our park”, he added.
He also indicated that immediately the incident occured, it was reported to the Katsina State police command, adding that “the matter is with them, and they are the ones handling it”.
It would be recalled that in 2021, no fewer than 53 passengers, comprising women and children on board the state transport authority were abducted along Minna-Tegina road while returning to Minna from Rijau local government area of the state.
They however regained their freedom after one month in captivity following the payment of an undisclosed amount of money as ransom.