Three men suspected of helping bandits abduct a young boy in Katsina State were reportedly killed by the same criminal group after they were accused of murdering the victim following the payment of ransom.
The disturbing account emerged from Jibia Local Government Area of Katsina State, where kidnapping and banditry have remained persistent security concerns.
The victim was identified in reports as Umar Sa’ad Moba.
According to the reports, the three men allegedly assisted a bandit group in abducting Umar before handing him over to the armed group.
The victim’s family reportedly paid millions of naira in ransom for his release.
After the ransom was allegedly paid, the bandits reportedly handed Umar back to the three local accomplices, who were expected to return him to his family.
The men allegedly feared that Umar knew their identities and could identify them to his family or security authorities.
They were therefore accused of stopping in the bush, killing the boy and abandoning his body.
When Umar failed to return home, his family reportedly contacted the bandits seeking information about his whereabouts.
The bandits allegedly maintained that the boy had already been handed over to the three men.
Reports further claimed that the bandits later lured the suspected accomplices back by telling them that additional ransom money had become available.
According to the account, the three men returned to the bandits’ hideout, where they were allegedly detained and questioned.
They reportedly confessed to killing Umar and disclosed the location where they had allegedly abandoned his body.
The reports then claimed that the bandits killed the three men.
However, the specific allegations have not been independently confirmed by the Katsina State Police Command or another authoritative security agency. A report reviewed for this publication also noted that key details, including the alleged deaths and recovery of the victim’s remains, could not be independently established.
Posh Reporters therefore cannot independently confirm the full sequence of events at this stage.
If verified, the case would expose another disturbing dimension of Nigeria’s kidnapping crisis: the involvement of local collaborators who allegedly help armed groups identify, abduct and transfer victims.
It would also underline the increasingly complex and violent relationships within criminal networks operating across parts of the North-West.
Authorities have yet to publicly provide a comprehensive account of the alleged incident.
