After spending 121 agonizing days in captivity, the terrorists that abducted 61 passengers of the Abuja-Kaduna train on March 28, have released another three victims in their custody.
The three victims who were released on Monday included two males and a female.
But the families of the three released victims were quiet on whether a ransom was paid or not before they were set free by the terrorists.
However, a security source claimed in Kaduna on Monday that the released victims’ families paid N100m each for the release of their loved ones.
“What I can tell you now is that the bandits have freed three victims of the abducted passengers. Those three released by them (bandits) include two males and a female. Each of those released paid N100m,” he claimed.
With the release of the third batch of three victims, whose identities have not been declared, 40 victims are still in the custody of the terrorists, having earlier set free 18 victims.
The release came barely 24 hours after the terrorists released a fresh video where they threatened to abduct President Muhammadu Buhari, the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, senators, and other government officials.
The extremists had early June, released 11 out of the 61 victims of the abducted train passengers remaining 50 hostages, and with the release of another seven early July, 43 of the captives were still in the terrorists’ den.
Mallam Tukur Mamu, one of the negotiators and Media Consultant to controversial Islamic Cleric, Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, who disclosed this, said through his singular efforts that the released hostages have been reunited with their families.
The seven hostages reunited with their families are Bosede Olurotimi, Abubakar Zubairu, Alhassan Sule and Sadiq Ango Abdullahi, Muhammad Daiyabu Paki, Aliyu Usman as well as only foreign national of Pakistani origin, Muhammad Abuzar Afzal.
The terrorists had on March 28, 2022, planted explosives devices along the rail track and when the Abuja-Kaduna bound AK-9 passenger train approached the point, the device exploded, causing the train to derail, leading to the death of eight passengers.
