Security agents in Plateau State are searching for a 13-year- old Fulani boy and 86 cattle suspected to have been rustled near Bisichi village and moved into Foron in Barkin Ladi local government area of the state on Friday evening.
The boy was said to be tending to the cattle alongside an adult but went missing after his companion went into Bisichi village to get them something to eat.
Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), the security taskforce in charge of maintaining law and order in the state, yesterday said a team had been set up to curb the area in search of the missing boy and the cattle.
Media and Information Officer of OPSH, Major Adam Umar, told Daily Trust on phone that the incident had been reported by MACBAN secretary in Barkin Ladi and that the search team include security agents and locals who know the terrain.
Earlier, MACBAN Secretary in Barkin Ladi, Abubakar Gambo had told our correspondent that the incident occurred around 5:00pm and that the cattle had left visible hoof prints that have been tracked to Foron.
Gambo said the member representing the area in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Peter Gyendeng had visited to calm them while the State Commissioner of Police, Undie Adie and his team had also visited the scene.
Daily Trust reports that the MACBAN chairman in the state, Muhammad Nura Abdullahi had in early July written a letter to Governor Simon Bako Lalong notifying him of the rustling of 28 cows from Langai in Mangu into Barkin Ladi’s Fan district. Five days later, the police confirmed irate Berom youths had attacked a Fulani settlement adjacent the Police Staff College in Jos South. The police commissioner immediately met with Berom and Fulani leaders and warned that such acts of criminality would not be tolerated.
