Nigerian authorities announced Saturday the death, in a military ambush, of Dogo Maikasuwa, leader of a prominent group of «bandits» in Kaduna state.
Maikasuwa, also known as «Dogo Millonaire», operated together with his cronies in the local area of Kajuru, where he orchestrated numerous kidnappings and murders, following the traditional modus operandi of these organizations that have been unleashing chaos for years in remote areas of Nigeria.
According to the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Internal Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, «Dogo Millionaire» led a series of attacks and kidnappings of citizens along the Kaduna-Kachia road and in the communities of Chikun and Kajuru.
The deceased was known as one of «the deadliest bandits» in the region and his group is accused of executing hostages if they perceived that the ransom was insufficient.
Security forces «successfully neutralized the bandit leader and recovered an AK-47 assault rifle, a magazine, five rounds of ammunition, two motorcycles and a camouflage military uniform.»
«The other bandits escaped with gunshot wounds. It was further learnt that one of them died of wounds sustained in the fierce battle, and his remains were taken away by other fleeing elements,» according to statements by Aruwan reported by the Nigerian daily ‘Premium Times’.
Finally, Maikasuwa was ambushed by the Nigerian security forces in a forest in the general area of Gengere-Kaso, between the two communities mentioned.
The Kaduna «bandits» have become a scourge for the country’s authorities, who have gone so far as to declare these organizations as terrorist groups to facilitate security operations.
This has not prevented them from continuing to act with almost total impunity in attacks that follow the same pattern: they break into the state’s towns on motorcycles, open indiscriminate fire on their residents, kidnap some of the survivors and flee before the authorities can react.
Bandits» also include armed groups that intervene on behalf of one side or another in the numerous inter-communal clashes that have plagued the African state for decades, and kidnappers who specialize in assaults on educational institutions in the northwest of the country, such as in Zamfara state.
