How kidnappers prevent their victims from escaping by Reuben Buhari

How kidnappers prevent their victims from escaping by Reuben Buhari

Once bandits kidnap victims and bring them to their den in the bush, they use brutal tactics to prevent escape. This information comes from numerous victims I interviewed after they either escaped or regained their freedom through ransom.  

1. Victims are usually stripped of their shoes to discourage escape. Sometimes, it even begins at the moment of the kidnapping; they ensure victims walk barefoot so that, when you finally reach their camp, your feet are already torn and bleeding. Some victims returned home and had to undergo surgery to graft skin onto their feet due to severe foot injuries.

2. Some victims have their ankles deliberately broken with stones; others are shot in the ankles. When ankles are shattered in this way, walking becomes difficult, making escape harder.

3. When victims arrive at the kidnappers’ camp, one, sometimes, is selected and shot in full view of all. They do this to warn the victims that anyone who attempts to escape will suffer the same fate. They then leave the body in full view of everyone for a day or two.

4. Some are chained with bicycle chains and left like that, even when the chain chafes the skin and turns it into a bleeding wound. 

5. At times, when the sun reaches its zenith, the bandits select able-bodied men among the victims - those who seem likely to escape - and order them to lie flat on their backs, facing the sun without blinking. If they close their eyes, they are beaten. This process is repeated, and as a result, victims often struggle to focus afterward. Some return home with impaired eyesight.

6. Most often, victims are given only enough food to survive, which weakens them and reduces their capacity to escape, even when opportunities arise. As a result, some victims return home looking skeletal.

7. When married couples are kidnapped, they are separated into different subcamps for men and women. Men are told that if they escape, their wives will be repeatedly raped and that ransom will still have to be paid for both. 

8. Sometimes, if someone escaped, all the remaining captives would be beaten together. The bandits would move among them, whipping each one while accusing them of enabling the escape.