The chief bandit who led the kidnapping operation on Kaduna-Abuja highway last Sunday has been killed in a shootout with the police.
The killing of the bandit identified as Yellow Baba Arusa, comes less than 24 hours after President Buhari gave a sweeping order to security agencies to be merciless.
A motorcycle and a rifle were recovered from his gang.
Daily Trust which reported the killing quoted an unofficial source.
The NPF has not confirmed it.
But according to the report, Baba Arusa died in an ambush staged by the police.
Arusa and four bandits had gone to buy alcohol and pentazocine, an opioid pain medication, when they ran into a police trap.
The incident happened around Kaduna South Local Government Area.
Arusa led the attack on Sunday on travellers on the major road, linking the Federal capital with the Kaduna metropolis.
Many people were abducted, while a former governorship aspirant in Zamfara, Sagir Hamida was killed.
Eight of the abducted were rescued in Niger State on Thursday, apart from the others Kaduna government also claimed to have rescued.
Security agents were said to have laid an ambush on five bandits around Kaduna South Local Government Area where the bandits had gone to buy alcohol and pentazocine; an opioid pain medication.
However, on Friday the Kaduna State Government lifted the three-month telecommunications shutdown it imposed in October due to recent attacks by bandits along the road.
The state government had on the request of security agencies directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to shut down telecom service in selected local government areas of the state.
