‘No student abducted’ — police speak on attack at Zamfara girls’ school

The Zamfara state police command has confirmed that no student was among the five persons abducted from Government Girls Secondary School Moriki in Zurmi local government area of the state.

Suspected bandits attacked the school on Wednesday night and abducted the five persons in the process.

Muhammad Shehu, the command’s spokesman, who confirmed the attack in a statement on Thursday, however, said no student was abducted.

According to him, two caterers and three of their children are missing.

Shehu explained that the command got a distress call around 9pm informing it of an attack by armed men, after which he said some troops were mobilised to the scene of the attack.

He said the armed men took a retreat to the bush upon the arrival of the troops.

“On the 1st May 2019 at about 2130hrs, DPO Zurmi received a distress call that unidentified number of armed men entered Government Girls Secondary school Moriki through the back fence with intent to attack the school and abduct students,” Shehu said.

“On the spur of the moment, a combined team of PMF/CTU/ and Civilian JTF personnel headed by the DPO mobilised to the school and confronted the armed men and stopped them from gaining access to the students’ hostels.”

“No students were abducted as earlier reported by some media outfits; however, two 2 caterers and three of their children were later discovered missing.

“The police are collaborating with the school authority to establish the whereabouts of the missing persons.

“A search and rescue operation team has been dispatched to the surrounding bushes for an extensive combing.”

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up in the school and its environs to forestall future occurrence.

Shehu called on members of the public to be vigilant and report any suspicious character to the police for prompt response.