Police rescue 126 workers held hostage in Kano

The Police Command in Kano State has rescued 126 workers allegedly held hostage for three months at a factory in Kano metropolis.

The workers were rescued at the Popular Farms and Mills Limited located in Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano.

The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna, confirmed this in a statement in Kano.

Haruna revealed that on June 21, at about 6:00 p.m., a complaint was received from Global Community for Human Right Network, Kano, that some labourers were wrongly confined inside the said Popular Farms and Mills.

He gave the address of the firm as No. 54 Challawa Industrial Estate, Kano.

“On receiving the information a team of policemen were deployed and when search was conducted, 126 labourers trapped inside the factory for three months were rescued,” he said.

According to him, four officials of the factory have been arrested.

Haruna said that the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Habu Ahmad, has ordered an investigation to unravel facts of the matter.

It was gathered the Farms and Mills company owned by Indian nationals is one of the major rice mill in Kano State.

Sources at the company said more than 70 per cent of the workers were engaged on casual basis and their salaries not harmonised in accordance with the National Minimum Wage Law.

“The company engaged workers on a casual basis, only a handful of them are on a full time employment.

“It is hard to comprehend the amount being paid as salaries to the workers.”

Source