The bandits invaded the community on Sunday and abducted at least 39 children who were working on the farm.

The armed men allegedly surrounded the farm and began shooting sporadically before abducting the labourers, who included boys and girls.

According to a community source, the victims’ parents are pleading with both the federal and state governments to free their children from their captors.

He said the representative of the farm owner had mobilised the children after paying a levy of N1m to the bandits in order to be able to harvest his produce.

The source said the bandits decided to attack the farm and kidnap the children after the farm owner failed to pay them the N3m they asked for.

“They demanded N3m from the owner for him to be able to harvest his produce, he gave them N1 million as part payment and decided to begin the work before completing the money, but unfortunately the bandits did not accept that. In our village, Mairuwa, alone we have 33 among the victims including young ladies who are due for marriage,” he said.

Another resident of Mairuwa, who confirmed the sad incident, said the bandits have demanded a ransom of N30 million from the farm owner.

He said “The owner of the farm is a Funtua resident, but his representative is residing here in Mairuwa village. As we speak, the bandits have used the cell phone of one of the victims to call demanding a ransom of N30 million.

“They said they were at the farm to abduct the owner or his representative but because they did not meet either of them they decided to kidnap those working for them.”

A resident of Katoge in Kankara Local Government told the newspaper that bandits had placed an N2m levy on his village for access to their farms but was later negotiated down to N600,000.

“We were able to mobilise the sum of N400,000 and paid to the bandits, but we have to complete that N200,000 before we access our farms. Other surrounding villages are also threatened, the situation is really bad here,” he said.