Unidentified bandits have killed a police officer with gunshot wounds.
When police stopped the kidnapping of relatives of John Gabaya, the current chairman of the Bwari area council, the office was destroyed.
On Sunday, bandits broke into Gabwa’s home in the regional council’s Tokulo neighbourhood.
Prior to it, in 2021, two family members including the father of the council leader, John Makama, were kidnapped by bandits.
After the bandits received an undisclosed ransom payment, they were set free again.
The Daily Trust was informed by the council chairman’s assistant that the armed group made a surprise return to the neighbourhood on Sunday about 11:33 p.m.
He claimed that the vigilantes securing the chairman’s private residence were engaged in a violent gunfight with the bandits who had entered the Tokulo hamlet through the Kaduna forest, brandishing AK-47 rifles.
He claimed that the Bwari division police force was notified during the gunfight and swiftly assaulted the village.
He claimed that although the police repulsed the attempt, one of the cops was killed by crossfire.
According to him, there had been three bandit attacks on the council chairman’s family between February 20, 2021, and April 6, 2024.
As you may remember, the bandits attacked the chairman’s community on February 2, 2021. They then returned in February of this year and attempted another attack, but the security personnel were able to repel them. Finally, on Sunday, April 4, this year, the bandits attempted another attack but were again repulsed, the chairman said.
SP Adeh Josephine, a spokesperson for the FCT police command, acknowledged the most recent attack on the Tokulo settlement.
She claimed that early on Sunday morning, a group of unidentified thugs with various offensive weapons broke into Tokulo village with the intention of kidnapping the family of the Bwari local council chairman.
She continued, “But regrettably, the police team arrived in time to stop the kidnapping and engage the kidnappers in a bloody gunfight, during which one of the policemen was shot and killed.”
She said that one of the kidnappers was also shot dead in the crossfire with the police and that the family of the council chairman was later taken from the village to an undisclosed place in a police van.