Bandits reportedly abducted over 100 persons, mostly women and children, in the Maru Local Government Area (LGA) of Zamfara State, on Friday.
This is barely a week after 15 persons were abducted in the Ruwandoruwa community of the same local government area.
The PUNCH gathered that the four villages attacked were: Mutumji, Sabongari Mahuta, Kwanar Dutsi, and Unguwar Kawo, all under the Maru LGA.
They were said to have been abducted for allegedly failing to pay levies imposed on the communities.
The source from Mutumji added that the bandits invaded the communities around 9pm shortly after prayers and started shooting sporadically, forcing residents to take refuge in the nearby bushes.
A resident, Bala Usman said over the phone that the leader of the bandits who operate within the area had earlier imposed a total of N110 million naira levies for harvesting on the four communities and also given them a two-week ultimatum to pay.
He disclosed further that while a N50 million levy was imposed on Mutumji, N30 million on Kwanar Dutsi, N20 million on Sabongari Mahuta, and Unguwar Kawo had a N10 million levy imposed on it.
Another source from the area said the communities had started gathering the money when the terrorists ran out of patience and invaded the community on Friday evening.
Attempts to get reactions from some state government officials and the police authorities in the state were not successful, as calls put through to the Police Public Relations Officer were not responded to.
