Horror In Daura As Police Rescue 300 Children, Adults From Torture Camp

The police have condemned the activities of operators of an illegal Islamic centre discovered in Daura, Katsina State.

This comes hours after security operatives bust what could be described as a torture house where minors, teenagers and adults were subjected to inhumane treatment in the Sabon Garin Daura area of Katsina North Local Government Area of the state.

The incident also comes barely three weeks after the police uncovered a similar illegal centre in Rigasa, an agrarian community in Igabi Local Government Area of Kaduna State.

About 300 children and adults from various parts of the country and neighbouring countries were rescued.

Operatives stormed the purported remand home in Katsina on Saturday last week, an operation which led to the freedom of the victims while arrests were made.

The centre is being operated by one 78-year-old Bello Umar of Sabon Garin Daura in Daura LGA of the state.

However, news of the operation went viral on Monday afternoon while the spokesman for the Katsina State Police Command, Mr Gambo Isah, confirmed that minors and teenagers were among those rescued.

“In the course of the investigation, sixty-seven persons from the ages of 7 to 40 years were found shackled with chains.

“Victims were also found to have been subjected to various inhuman and degrading treatments,” Isha said in a statement.

The command warned parents to desist from taking their children to illegal, unauthorised or unapproved rehabilitation centres otherwise known as “Makarantar Mallam Mai – Mari”.

It, however, urged parents to take their recalcitrant children to only government-recognised and approved rehabilitation facilities or centres provided by the government itself.

According to the statement, the victims have already been evacuated to hospital for treatment while efforts are ongoing to reunite them with their respective families.

Credit: Uche Aguoru