Bandits on Sunday night carried out a punitive attack on Kwarin Mai Saje community in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State over the failure of the residents to pay a N3 million levy.

During the attack, the bandits raped women and abducted six people after looting the village of valuables, according to a resident.

The brutal outlaws had initially imposed levies on 13 communities in the area, but Kwarin Mai Saje was not included.

However, a gang associated with banditry kingpin, Ada Aleru, dragged Kwarin Mai Saje into its own illegal tax net two weeks ago.

Sama’ila Tsafe, a native of the area, told our correspondent that the bandits felt the residents disrespected them by not paying up.

“The village was attacked yesterday by bandits numbering about 100. They looted the village of every important property and raped many women in their houses. They also kidnapped six people during the attack that lasted for several hours.

“It was not as if the villagers didn’t pay, they couldn’t gather the whole three million naira. They sought for assistance and came up with N600,000 but the bandits felt bad that they couldn’t get the whole money imposed on the villagers,” he said.

He said the attack on Kwarin Mai Saje will probably serve as a warning to other defaulting villages in the area.

The state’s police spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, did not respond to calls and SMS sent to him on the attack.

The phone number of Mamman Tsafe, a retired deputy inspector-general of police who is the Special Adviser to Governor Bello Metawalle on security matters, was also not available.

PT