A week after suspected gunmen abducted seven expatriates working with SETRACO Construction Company in Jama’are local government area of Bauchi State and 60 days after the same fate befell a French engineer in Katsina State, security operatives in both states are yet to get clues on the whereabouts of the victims.
The foreign workers, who included five Lebanese, a Briton and an Italian, were abducted last Saturday by unknown gunmen in Bauchi.
Senior police officials who spoke with LEADERSHIP Weekend on the twin incidents, said they were still hunting for the kidnappers.
Although a new terrorist group, Ansaru, has claimed responsibility for the abduction of the workers, the Bauchi State commissioner of police, Mr. Muhammad Ladan, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that none of the culprits had been arrested just as the victims remained in their captors’ den.
“No, we have not arrested them (kidnappers); please we also want you to give us information on how we can arrest them on time,’’ Ladan told our correspondent.
The public relations officer of SETRACO, Mr. Abu Malik, also confirmed to our correspondent during a telephone interview that all the company’s foreign workers had been evacuated to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja to ensure their safety.
He added that the company had been closed temporarily in Jamaare.
Asked the whereabouts of the victims, Malik said the firm was yet to establish any contact with either the kidnappers or the victims.