Owing to intense bombardments of its camps and fighters by Nigerian Air Force (NAF) fighter jets and Nigerian Army ground troops, Bello Turji, the leading notorious terrorists kingpin in Nigeria’s Northwest region has relocated from his enclaves and is berthing on new camps in Zamfara State.
Last month, Turji has escaped when NAF airstrikes destroyed his camps and killed scores of his fighters in multiple raids across the region.
Sources confirmed that the terror kingpin and his terrorists foot soldiers have left their Fakai forest in Shinkafi Local Government Area of Zamfara State and moving Southwards in the State.
Specifically, Turji’s terrorists fighters have been spotted setting huts and tents in Gando forest in Bukkuyum Local Government Area of the State. Gando is a community located near a forest and is 35km south of Bukkuyum town, the headquarters of the LGA.
Already, the Gando community and many other villages in the district are being literally governed by the terrorists.
Residents reported that some of the foot soldiers had erected thatched huts in an area inside the forest. They said the criminals were moving on motorbikes with some of them walking with herds of cattle.
“A bandits’ leader known as Shehu Bayade is the spearhead of deadly raids, kidnappings and cattle rustling in communities in Anka, Bukkuyum and Gummi Local Government Areas of the State.
“We believe Turji and his boys were invited by Shehu Bayade to that forest. This is because in their own thinking, making the vast forest their abode would make their detection by NAF aircraft harder unlike where they had left.
“We are in serious trouble as a people. We are pleading with military and other security forces to extend their aggressive operations to this part of the state otherwise a safe haven for all sorts of dangerous people would be permanently created,” a source said.
The Spokesperson of the Zamfara State Police Command, SP Muhammad Shehu, could not be reached for comments at the time of filing this report.
Though Turji, who had spearheaded the killings and kidnappings for ransom around Shinkafi, Sabon Birni and Isa LGAs in Zamfara and Sokoto States had released over 50 captives, including pregnant women last week, his men who are moving towards their new Gando forest had this week killed over 60 villagers, days after the captives were released.
Copyright Daily Trust