Bandits have abducted no fewer than five foreign nationals from Burkina Faso while working at a gold mining site near Arafa village in Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency and security expert in the Lake Chad region, disclosed this in a post on X.
The source said that the incident occurred at about 11:15 am on March 14, when a large group of bandits, reportedly hibernating between Arafa and Gidan Dankande villages, struck the mining site and forcibly took the workers to an unknown location.
It said that the heavily armed miscreants immediately disappeared into the surrounding bush. By the time security personnel deployed from a nearby Operation FANSAN YAMMA base arrived, the criminals had vanished.
According to the source, efforts are ongoing to track the bandits and ensure the safe release of the abducted foreign nationals, with security forces combing the area for intelligence on their whereabouts.
If further stated that the incident is part of the dangerous relationship between illegal mining and banditry in Zamfara.
Recall that over the years, the North West mineral wealth, gold, copper, and lithium, has become a double-edged sword, attracting both legitimate investors and violent criminal networks that exploit the resources for profit.
