Police have confirmed that suspected gunmen in the early hours of Sunday, September 10, invaded a neighbourhood at the Mile 6 area of Jalingo, the Taraba state capital, killing a woman and whisking away a police officer and family members.
The spokesman of the Nigeria Police, Taraba Command, Usman Abdullahi SP, told The Nation that a serving policeman with the Rivers State Command, his wife, and daughter were taken away while a woman was shot and subsequently confirmed dead at the hospital.
Abdullahi stated: “The kidnappers came and scaled through the fence and kidnapped one police officer attached to Rivers State Command by the name Gamaliel. And in the process kidnapped his wife and daughter. They shot him and a woman in the house. The woman was confirmed dead at the Federal Medical Centre. The Command is working to make sure they are being rescued unhurt.”
He disclosed that the command was on the situation and working to ensure the victims were released.
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Our reporter was at the neighbourhood where a resident said that the invaders carried out the operation around 2 am today Sunday and that they were over 40 in number.
He however had a different twist to the story. According to him, their target was a clergyman living in the neighbourhood but they went for his family members as he was absent.
He disclosed that the kidnappers came from the mountains bordering the neighbourhood and had been a menace to the community for some time without the authorities acting to flush them.
This is the second kidnap case within Jalingo the state capital in a space of two weeks. Penultimate Friday, gunmen kidnapped two separate family members at Mayo Dasa, another suburb of Jalingo but they have since been released unhurt.