In Zamfara, bandits have kidnapped at least five foreign nationals from Burkina Faso while working at a gold mining site near Arafa village in Maru Local Government .
This was disclosed in a post on X by Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency and security expert in the Lake Chad region.
According to the source , the incident happened 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 destination.
The heavily armed bandits immediately disappeared into the surrounding bush. By the time security personnel deployed from a nearby Operation FANSAN YAMMA base arrived, the criminals had vanished.
The source confirmed that , 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.
However ,it further stated that the incident is part of the dangerous relationship between illegal mining and armed banditry in Zamfara.
Recollect that over the years, the North West mineral wealth, gold, copper, and lithium, has become a controversial sword, attracting both legitimate investors and violent criminal networks that exploit the resources for gain.
