…Kidnappers Demand N81m Ransom

Three more abducted students of the Bethel Baptist Secondary school in Kaduna State have been found.

The three students (all male) were found by troops at the 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.

After being kidnapped from their school on July 8, 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.

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 ₦60 million for the release of the students.

While it is not clear what agreements have been reached, the students have been trickling in, in small groups.

On July 25, 28 students were found inside the Tsoho Gaya Forest in Chikun Local Government Area of the state.

Armed kidnappings for ransom along highways, and from homes and businesses now make almost daily newspaper headlines in Africa’s most populous country.

But 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.

Meanwhile, kidnappers of 81 students of Bethel Baptist High School in Kaduna are demanding a ransom of one million naira each to release them

A pastor involved in the negotiations for the release of the students disclosed the ransom on Tuesday.

The students were stolen from their boarding school last month by bandits,the 10th mass school kidnapping since December in northwest Nigeria.

“(Bandits) are asking for one million naira on each of the 80 students remaining with them,” Reverend Ite Joseph Hayab said.

Kidnappers released 28 children last month after a first batch of 28 was released two days after the raid.

But another 81 remain in captivity.

Hayab said three students escaped before the 28 were released last month.

But they were re-kidnapped by an unidentified person in the forest who demanded a ransom.

He was paid over one million naira by parents.