Twenty-Two persons were reportedly abducted by bandits in Jere town by the Abuja-Kaduna Highway, a day after the Inspector General of Police, Mr Usman Alkali Baba, toured the highway and assured that it was secured.

According to a local, the bandits raided the community around 11 pm on Sunday.

He said: “The bandits came in large number and attacked some houses. They kidnapped 22 locals. Five women were among those kidnapped. Some of the bandits were in army uniforms.

They moved from house to house and woke their victims up before they marched them into the bush at gunpoint.

“The bandits were in the community for over an hour. It was a silent operation. They only started shooting sporadically to scare people from coming after them after leaving the community. One of the kidnapped victims escaped as they were moving inside the bush”.

The police are yet to react to the kidnapping.