The 75 pupils of Government Day Secondary School, Kaya, in Maradun Local Government Area of Zamfara State who were abducted on September 1, 2021, have regained their freedom.

Nigerian Police had reported that gunmen abducted more than 70 students in the country’s northwest state of Zamfara.

Zamfara State Police spokesman, Mohammed Shehu, had said in a statement that a large group of attackers stormed the Government Day Secondary School in the remote village of Kaya that Wednesday morning, seizing the pupils. He had given the number of seized children as 73.

Shehu said that Police rescue teams were working with the military to secure the release of the pupils.

The bandits later returned five of the pupils within 24 hours.

A former councilor of Kaya ward, Yahaya Kaya, said that his niece was among those released by the bandits; adding that the five freed pupils had been returned to their hometown of Kaya.

It is not yet clear if any ransom was paid before the pupils were released.