A joint security team made up of Nigerian military personnel and the Nigeria Police Force has entered a forest in Niger State in an effort to rescue farmers abducted by suspected bandits.
Niger State Police Command spokesman Wasiu Abiodun confirmed the development on Wednesday.
He said operatives were combing Mukura village in the Kasuwan-Garba District of Mariga Local Government Area.
“Reports received on 28th Sept 2026 indicated that on 27th Sept 2026 at about 3pm, suspected bandits abducted over twenty persons at Mukura village, Kasuwan-Garba District of Mariga LGA. Joint security rescue efforts ongoing,” Abiodun stated.
Local accounts put the number higher. More than 47 farmers, mostly women along with some men, were seized while harvesting groundnuts on their farms at Tungan Rimi in Ma’undu-Beri Ward of Mariga LGA.
Mariga Local Government Chairman Alhaji Aliyu Muhamadu confirmed the abduction. He said one of the women had given birth while in captivity and that the abductors had contacted relatives, demanding ₦2 million for each victim’s release.
Muhamadu added that joint security personnel and local vigilantes had already engaged the terrorists in a gun battle at Alibani village after moving through Kasuwan Garba and Biri. One vigilante was injured in the exchange.
A source in the area reported seeing the armed men moving between Mangoro and Wamba after emerging from the Dogon Dawa axis.
The group is believed to have taken the victims into the Bariki Forest, also known as Ma’undu.