Three More Bethel Baptist Students Abducted In Kaduna Found
Three more abducted students of Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna state have on Tuesday, August 3 reportedly escaped from their captors.
They were subsequently found by security operatives at Kankumi forest general area in Chikun local government where they were abandoned by their abductors.
Although the police or school management are yet to confirm the development, locals told Channels Television that the three students had escaped from the bandits.
It would be recalled the students were kidnapped in the early hours of July 5, 2021, around 2am on the school premises along the Kaduna-Kachia Expressway, Damishi, Chikun Local Government Area of the state.
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The first batch of 28 of the students had spent 20 days in the kidnappers’ den. Thereafter, another four of the students also escaped from their captors.
This was after payment of N50 million was made to the bandits which warranted the release of the first 28 students.
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According to ChannelsTV, after the 3 students were kidnapped from their school, they were reportedly re-kidnapped by another group of bandits while wandering inside the forest.
The second set of bandits were said to have renegotiated and collected a ransom from the parents of the three students, after which they dumped them inside the forest before they were found by troops.
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The students have now been debriefed by the military, and will be handed over to the school authorities soon.
Its been nearly a month since 121 students of the school were abducted from their hotels by bandits, after which the bandits demanded a ransom of N60 million for the release of the students.
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Armed kidnappings for ransom along highways, and from homes and businesses now make almost daily newspaper headlines in Africa’s most populous country.
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However, mass school abductions have soared this year, with almost 1,000 students kidnapped, according to UNICEF.
Most are released after negotiations but many are still being held in forest hideouts like the Bethel pupils.