Sallah eve: ‘Gunmen abduct travellers on Abuja-Kaduna Highway’

Some motorists, who plied the Abuja-Kaduna Highway on Thursday, said they saw empty vehicles left by roadside with their doors wide opened, an indication that the occupants were abducted.

It was reported by some online news platforms that some unspecified number of travellers were abducted on their way to Kaduna near Katari village around 9:am on Thursday.

 A traveller, Alhaji Tanko, who drove on the road in his private car alongside his wife few hours after the alleged abduction took place, said they saw empty vehicles parked by the roadside.

“We actually saw about five to seven empty vehicles parked by the roadside close to Jere forest with their doors opened.

“We became worried and assumed that something bad must have happened to the occupants,” he said.

Another eyewitness earlier quoted by an online news platform, who escaped the incident, identified as Mohammed Lawan, said the kidnappers attacked travelers heading to Kaduna around 8:50 am.

“We were not more than 250 meters to the point when we took a detour after sighting them.

“I sighted a Honda CRV 98 Model with its doors wide open and without anybody in it, an indication that they abducted the occupants,” he said.

But the Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, Musa Umar Muri, when contacted by Daily Trust for confirmation, said he was not aware of the said abduction.

“Today? No, not to my knowledge,” he said.

Many Muslims travelled on Thursday ahead of the Sallah celebrations on Friday.