No fewer than 15 persons abducted by bandits from Tegina, Rafi local government area of Niger State and kept in a Zamfara forest have escaped.
The victims were said to be adults abducted alongside the 156 pupils of the Salihu Tanko Islamic School earlier in the month.
It was gathered that the adults were separated from the students and whisked to a forest in Zamfara.
However, luck came their way on Friday night when bandits assigned to guard them in a house inside the Zamfara forest slept off having got drunk.
The abductees, it was learnt, quietly opened the door of the house and managed to escape.
To avoid detection by other bandits in the forest, the escapees were said to have separated and moved in different directions.
Some of the escapees managed to burst out of the forest around Zaria in Kaduna State and ran into military personnel who helped them to contact their family members in Niger State.
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The Niger State Government was said to have swung into action to help bring back the victims after one of them got to Tegina and broke the news of the daring escape.
The escapee that broke the news was said to be in a medical facility as of Sunday for medical check-up.
While three others – a councillor, a driver and one other person escapee – arrived in Tegina on Sunday morning, another escape was taken to Minna and placed in a medical facility for a check-up.
A source disclosed that security operatives have been mobilised to the Tegina-Birnin-Gwari road to watch out for more returning escapees.