The Zamfara state police command has denied online reports claiming 16 travelers were kidnapped by armed bandits in Kwashabawa village in Zumi local government area in the state. Reports were rife on social media on Thursday December 10, that some travelers were abducted after their vehicle was attacked by bandits.
The spokesperson of the state police command, Mohammed Shehu, has released a statement denying the report. According to him, the vehicle the travelers were commuting in developed fault while en route their destination. He alleged that passengers decided to flee the vehicle for fear they might be attacked by armed men.
Read the statement below
”The attention of Zamfara State Police Command has been drawn to a purported attack of Sokoto State Mass Transit Bus and kidnapped of the passengers in it at Kwashabawa village in Zurmi local government.
The report is a fiction imagination of a mischief-makers who derived pleasure in spreading rumours to instil fear into the citizenry.
The true position of things was that, today (Thursday) at about 0900hours, a Mass transit Bus conveying passengers from Sokoto to Katsina developed a mechanical fault along the area in question.
The passengers were apprehensive and jittery, hence they all scattered and took to flight, leaving the bus and their luggage. The Police in Zurmi got the information and rushed to the scene. They uploaded all the passengers luggage and brought same to Police station for safe keeping to avoid miscreants stealing the passengers valuables. All the passengers later emerged and claimed their luggage and left.
The Police Command calls on the good citizens of the state to shun the viral video and avoid spreading the misleading information that can retard societal cohesion and progress.
SP Mohammed Shehu
PPRO
For:- Commissioner of Police
Zamfara State Police Command
Gusau.”
