From Ibrahim Sidi Muh’d, Gusau
The Zamfara State Police Command has deployed operational assets and launched a targeted rescue mission after a notorious bandit leader turned a community-led peace initiative into a mass abduction trap, taking 39 villagers hostage in the Maradun Local Government Area.
The incident occurred on Sunday, June 7, 2026, when a delegation from Magamin Diddi village ventured into the deep thickets of the Fadama Forest to negotiate access to their ancestral farmlands ahead of the 2026 wet season.
According to local sources and a formal police report submitted by the District Head of Magamin Diddi, the crisis began when a notorious bandit kingpin, identified alternatingly as Kachalla Smallie (or Jimo Smally), issued a directive banning local farmers from working their fields this year.
Fearing total economic ruin and starvation, a group of 47 respected and elderly community leaders mobilized to seek a peaceful resolution.
However, the delegation entered the forest intending to meet with the bandit leader’s parents to broker a reconciliation framework that would allow them safe access to their crops.
Local community members, speaking anonymously, revealed that the bandit leader personally phoned the village, instructing the representatives to meet him at a designated location deep in the bush.
The peaceful dialogue quickly collapsed when the bandit kingpin stormed the meeting venue with heavily armed gang members.
The bandits immediately surrounded the delegation, taking 39 of the 47 representatives hostage.
Sources disclosed that the bandits turned on the elderly delegates, demanding the immediate return of two military rifles allegedly missing after a clash a few weeks prior, in which some of Smallie’s gang members were killed near Magamin Diddi.
“They replied to the bandits’ leader that his gang members were killed by personnel of the Zamfara Community Protection Guards (CPG) without the consent or involvement of the village leaders,” a local source stated.
Refusing the explanation, the bandit leader ordered his men out of hiding to march the 39 captives further into his enclave.
The kidnappers have since issued a chilling ultimatum: produce the missing rifles or face mass execution.
Confirming the mass abduction, the Zamfara State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Yazid Abubakar, stated that the Command acted immediately upon receiving the distress report from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Maradun.
“The Zamfara State Police Command immediately initiated efforts to trace the whereabouts of the victims and secure their safe rescue,” DSP Abubakar announced in an official statement.
“Operational assets have been deployed, and security operatives are working on available intelligence to locate the abducted persons.”
The Police Command has urged the anxious community to remain calm, assuring the public that every effort is being made to rescue the 39 hostages unharmed and bring Kachalla Smallie and his syndicate to justice.
