Angry residents attack Sokoto police station, seize and burn suspected Bandits

Some suspected bandits were seized from a police station and lynched by angry villagers in Tangaza town, Tangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning, September 18, about 12 hours after bandits killed two abducted persons in the community.

It was gathered that the bandits had rejected ransom offers to free the kidnapped victims last week. According to sources, the bandits however insisted on killing the captives to retaliate for the ongoing military onslaughts in their hideout

Following the killing of the victims, members of the local vigilante armed with weapons such as cutlasses and local guns, and working with the police, stormed the forest, killed two bandits and arrested four who were later taken to a police station.

However, angered by the killing of the two kidnapped persons, residents of the community retrieved the arrested suspects, lynched them and burnt their bodies.

A villager said when they were brought into the town, residents followed the team to the divisional police station and demanded that the bandits must be killed in their presence.

“The youths were angry and despite pleas from the DPO (Divisional Police Officer) and the local government chairman, they insisted that if the policemen did not kill the bandits in their presence, they would burn down the police station,” he said.

The angry youths subsequently overpowered the police and killed all the suspects whose corpses were set on fire.

The spokesman for the Sokoto Police Command, ASP Sanusi Abubakar, confirmed the incident but did not go into details.