A group of armed men have abducted a 16-year-old boy and six young girls during an overnight attack on Gidan-Bijimi, a community in Kawu ward of Bwari Area Council in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Gidan-Bijimi lies close to Marke village, along the boundary between the FCT and Kaduna State.
A resident of Kawu, Suleiman Shuaibu, confirmed the incident in a phone conversation on Thursday morning.
According to him, the attackers, armed with AK-47 rifles, stormed two houses around 9:47 p.m., firing shots into the air as they took away the victims.
He said the raid caused panic throughout the community, adding that local vigilantes attempted to confront the attackers but were forced to retreat due to the bandits’ superior firepower.
Shuaibu noted that the abducted girls are aged between 17 and 23 years.
“It was around 9:53 pm when a call came from Gidan-Bijimi community that some bandits invaded the village and abducted six young girls, unfortunately my cousin sister happened to be among the victims,” he said.
He added that some residents fled their homes after the attack and that no contact had yet been established with the kidnappers.
Efforts to reach SP Josephine Adeh, spokesperson for the FCT Police Command, were unsuccessful.
The incident comes barely two days after the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, directed security agencies to intensify surveillance around Abuja’s borders. Following the directive, a joint taskforce—comprising the police, Department of State Services (DSS), military, and other agencies—was deployed across the capital.
During a briefing, the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Miller G. Dantawaye, urged members of the joint operation to build the collaboration needed to curb criminal activities in the territory. He noted that the Minister had provided the necessary logistics to support the operation and enhance security for residents.
