Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, have rescued the four remaining students of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, who were held in captivity by armed bandits for nearly seven weeks, bringing to a close a harrowing episode that had heightened anxiety over the country’s escalating campus insecurity.
The students — three males and one female — were freed late Wednesday in an intelligence-led operation conducted without any ransom payment, security sources confirmed. One of the abductors was arrested during the raid, while the others were neutralised.
The rescue comes barely days after DSS operatives, in a separate operation, secured the release of Professor Samuel Okunsebor, Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at Nasarawa State University, Keffi (NSUK), who was seized by gunmen from Mile Uku, a boundary community between Lafia and Nasarawa Eggon Local Government Areas, and freed on Friday, July 18, following a coordinated intelligence-driven mission.
Credible News recalls the polytechnic students were abducted on the night of Tuesday, June 3, 2026, when armed bandits stormed their off-campus hostel on the outskirts of the Low-Cost area of Kaura Namoda town. According to the Zamfara State Police Command, the attackers gained entry after one of the students stepped outside briefly and left the door open. Seven students were initially seized, but one escaped during the raid, leaving six — three males and three females — in captivity.
The Zamfara State Police Command spokesperson, DSP Yazid Abubakar, had confirmed at the time that operatives of the Violent Crime Response Unit (VCRU), working alongside troops of Operation Fansan Yamma, launched a coordinated rescue effort. He stressed that the polytechnic’s main campus remained secure, with the attack occurring at an off-campus residence.
Following sustained pressure from security forces, two of the six students were released earlier in the standoff. The DSS then intensified surveillance and intelligence gathering, culminating in Wednesday’s surgical operation that returned the last four captives safely to their families.
The abduction had drawn sharp condemnation from the Kaura Namoda Emirate, the Concerned Citizens of Kaura Namoda group, and the Zamfara State chapter of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), all of whom decried the worsening security situation in the emirate. The Concerned Citizens group had specifically linked the recent wave of attacks to a notorious bandit leader, Kachalla Bello Dansadiya, and cited earlier incidents including the abduction of two senior lecturers held for more than two months despite ransom payments, and the seizure of a district head from his residence near a military base.
On the floor of the Senate, Senator Sunday Karimi (Kogi West) had described the surge in kidnappings — from Ogbomoso schoolchildren to Ayedun Bunu residents in his constituency — as “a major threat to national security,” renewing calls for state police, forest guards, and the deployment of surveillance drones by sub-national governments.
The safe return of the students is expected to bring immense relief to their families, the management of Federal Polytechnic, Kaura Namoda, and residents of the emirate, who had endured weeks of uncertainty. Security analysts have credited the twin rescues — of the NSUK professor and the polytechnic students — as evidence of improving inter-agency intelligence coordination, even as they caution that the underlying drivers of banditry in the oNorth-West remain unaddressed.
The rescued students are now undergoing medical evaluation and psychological debriefing before being reunited fully with their families.
Crediblenewsng.com
