One of Nigeria’s most wanted bandit kingpin, Bello Turji has struck again after his gang reportedly abducted travelers in Sokoto State.
According to counter-insurgency and security expert, Zagazola Makama, heavily armed bandits led by Turji laid ambush along the Sabon Birni road in the state on Tuesday, where they intercepted a vehicle and kidnapped the passengers and the driver of the vehicle.
Makama who posted the news on his X handle on Wednesday morning wrote:
“Armed bandits operating in eastern Sabon Birni, Sokoto State, have reportedly abducted seven travelers, including six women and a driver, in the early hours of Tuesday.
“Intelligence sources informed Zagazola Makama that the assailants, suspected to be associates of notorious bandit leader Bello Turji, intercepted a commercial vehicle near Chin Golf village.
“The travelers were forced out of the vehicle and taken into the forest.”
The bandit leader has become one of the most powerful terrorists operating in the Zamfara and Sokoto axis defying all efforts by security operatives to either arrest or eliminate him.
In the past five years since he came into limelight, Turji has become a thorn in the flesh of residents of the two states, committing all forms of crimes including kidnapping, armed robbery, cattle rustling and murder.
Attempts by the military and other security operatives to apprehend him has been futile as he keeps operating with an invincibility that has befuddled security agencies.