At least two miners, Gora Alhaji Mai-Mota and Gora Alhaji Mani (both residents of Ketaren-Kago village), were abducted by gunmen who stormed a mining site at Kangon-Inga village in Katako District, Rafi Local Government Area, Niger, at approximately 4:30 p.m.
30 Aug 2025 · Kangon-Inga, Rafi, Niger
Deaths
0
Injured
0
Kidnapped
2
Total casualties
0
Perpetrators
Unidentified Armed Actors
Response
Detectives visited the scene. Authorities urged residents to remain vigilant and report suspicious movements to security agencies
Displacement
0
Socioeconomic drivers
Banditry-for-ransom economy, targeting of resource workers
Trajectory
The Kangon-Inga attack is part of a wider pattern of Bandits expanding their operations from mainly cattle rustling and highway abductions to directly profiting from Nigeria's lucrative, unregulated mining sector. Bandits in North-West and North-Central Nigeria have increasingly integrated mining into their economic portfolio since 2023.
Cycle notes
The situation in Rafi LGA mirrors earlier cycles of violence where state withdrawal from peripheral zones allowed criminal economies to flourish. The state government's accusations of collusion ("It is suspicious that miners can enter the forests freely, yet the Bandits don't touch them") echoes similar allegations of complicity seen during the early 2000s oil bunkering in the Niger Delta and logging in the North-Central region during the 1990s.
Pattern
Kidnappings in mining communities
Related — Kidnapping
Gunmen abducted a veterinary doctor and three children in Kungabokun community, Bwari LGA, FCT.
A series of Bandits attacks began on Mada community in Zamfara State. Armed men killed one vigilante and abducted seven residents during the raids.
Bandits invaded homes at Unguwar Iya in Jere town, Kaduna State, kidnapping nine residents. The attackers initially demanded a ransom of N30 million for the release of the victims