Three people suspected of kidnapping more than 100 students from a Christian school in northwest Nigeria have been arrested, police said Thursday evening (September 23). On July 5, armed men raided the boarding school at Bethel Secondary School, on the outskirts of Kaduna town, and kidnapped 121 students who were sleeping there.
Nigerian police spokesman Frank Mba, one of the three suspects, says “Took care of the surveillance of the school and consulted with the other members of his gang before attacking and kidnapping the students”. An AK-47 assault rifle was found in each of the three suspects, he added, adding that the investigation was still ongoing. Since July 5, 100 students have been released or managed to escape, while twenty-one still remain in the hands of their captors.
About a thousand students kidnapped since December
This mass kidnapping was part of a series of kidnappings carried out for months by armed criminal groups, operating in northwest and central Nigeria. These groups, which carry out looting, attacks and kidnappings, target schoolchildren and students for ransoms.
About 1,000 schoolchildren and students have been kidnapped since December when gangs started attacking schools. Most were released after negotiations, but hundreds remain prisoners in camps hidden in forests. Last month, nearly 100 students from a private Muslim school, who were kidnapped in western Nigeria in May, were reunited with their parents.
Boko Haram Islamists are the first to kidnap schools, with the kidnapping of more than 200 young girls from their dormitory in Chibok in 2014, sparking global public opinion.
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