Armed bandits on Thursday, blocked the ever-busy Gusau – Funtua highway, kidnapping an unspecified number of travellers.

For nearly two hours, passengers were unable to cross Tazane, as the bandits took over the Zaria-Gusau highway.

Speaking to newsmen, one of the stranded passengers, Yusuf Tsafe, narrated how the criminals stormed the highway in the early hours of Thursday and mounted a roadblock around the Tazame axis of the road.

According to him, the bandits in their large numbers with about 50 motorcycles, each carrying 3 persons, abducted an unspecified number of travellers

“They entered the road around 7:00am, and till around 9:00am, they were still there, we just parked by the roadside waiting for the military to clear the road, we saw the bandits taking people inside the bush.

“The military guntruck moved to the area earlier, we were just hearing gunshots, but they are yet to open the road. Till now, no vehicle has been allowed to pass.”

Another passenger who spoke to Channels TV confirmed that Magazu-Kacheri Road, which is also the road linking Gusau to Funtua, had been blocked by bandits this morning.

“The military men asked us to stop because the bandits blocked the road, we are still waiting for them to clear the road,” the source said.

When contacted, the spokesperson of the Zamfara State Police Command, ASP Yazid Abubakar, said additional troops especially operatives of the Nigerian Police Mobile Squad have been deployed to the affected areas to clear the road.