SQUASH – Episode 4: The Virgins of the Sahara
Three weeks before we saw Ali at the bandit training camp in North Africa, Danlami issued a command to Kadiri.
Danlami, your assignment is to raid and kidnap young ladies and girls from any Government girl’s secondary school in the north and transfer them by any means necessary to the camp in Mauritania.
Danlami had created child trafficking routes within the Sahara and it was easy to abduct and transport as many girls as bandit vehicles and lorries could carry.
The goal was to create a market in the Sahara where young virgin girls were sold in exchange for weapons, ammunition, and money.
Wealthy and powerful men from different parts of the Saharan countries come to the training camp in the Sahara twice a year on invitation to feast their eyes and make their choice.
Once they find a girl they like, they choose their mode of payment, and the exchange process is kickstarted.
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We heard loud continuous gunshots. There was chaos everywhere. The school gate made a loud noise as a Mercedes truck rammed into it. Its anchors gave way to the incoming truck.
As the big Mercedes truck proceeded further into the school, four light trucks that looked like small versions of Hillux came into view. Two veered to the left side of the truck while the other two veered to the right.
Bandits jumped out of the trucks swerving their weapons carelessly toward the classrooms and shooting every possible round in their AK-47 assault riffles.
The big Mercedes truck made a U-turn and reversed towards the school assembly.
Kadiri came out from the back of the Mercedes truck holding a Hotchkiss M1922 light machine gun with its belt dragging the brown sand of the earth behind him…
Kadiri put his finger on the trigger of the Hotchkiss M1922 light machine gun and the 7.5x55mm rounds exploded inside its chamber, and the bullets flew out in rage with smoke and yellow lines of light trailing the positions where it hit.
Aisha, the school biology teacher was holding down the two young girls that were closest to her as the chaos raged towards her.
He directed the fire to one of the walls and the bullets tore the half-up part of the wall facing him down. There was dust and thick smoke in the air.
As soon as his hands left the trigger, the gun stopped spitting 7.5x55mm bullets and left a ringing sound in the ears of the people who were still alive on the scene.
Kadiri raised his right hand in the air and made a stop sign. All the bandits stopped shooting in unison.
The bandits started patrolling through the debris they had created while Kadiri stepped across the rubble that was left of the wall he just destroyed.
He saw Aisha on the floor with the two girls unharmed and thanked his stars that his bullets did not catch this fine damsel.
Aisha had charming eyes and sexy thin lips. She begged for mercy and asked Kadiri to spare their lives.
I am not here to kill you. You are my price. I will kidnap you instead. Now stand up!
Aisha stood up slowly. The dust had covered her face and her white hijab looked exactly like the dust that rose from it as she stood up. Her hands were shaking visibly but she managed to hold the two girls who were terrified to their bone marrow with each one on each side and made a move towards the assembly ground.
He looked at her waist as she slowly walked away from him. For the first time in his adult life, he felt sexually attracted to a woman.
Blood on the floor mixed with brown dust flowed towards his boot. He looked around for the last time for any survivors but the children in the classroom at the time he started shooting were gone.
He turned back towards the assembly ground and made a hand gesture with two fingers pointing in the air and then rotating his hand above his head.
Within two minutes, the surviving female teachers and young girls from the raid were tied, blindfolded, and loaded into the back of the Mercedes truck.
The bandits climbed into the vehicles they descended from and their drivers turned their vehicles around with rough maneuvers and headed straight out through the fallen gates with the Mercedes truck trailing behind.
There was only one armed bandit on the Mercedes truck to watch over the abducted teachers and girls.
Kadiri thought to himself; That beautiful teacher is mine. As he drove through the rough roads that connected the outskirts of Borno to the Sahara.
Throughout the journey, Aisha consoled the girls as they wept. The sheer terror of being abducted by unknown men, and the fact that they are on a journey of no return broke their hearts to pieces.
After eight hours of bumpy road, they got to the first holding camp in the Sahara. The bandits brought them down from the truck and carried them on their shoulders into the darkness.
With their blindfolds still on, Kadiri came and asked; Waye ze sha ruwa? (Who will drink water?) Aisha raised her hands shakily and was given water to drink from a 5-litre gallon held to her face by one of the bandits.
Some other girls drank from the 5-litre gallon too, while still having the blindfolds on.
One of the girls said she wanted to relieve herself. Then a bandit escorted her.
While we waited at this temporary camp that night, we heard two gunshots.
The bandit that escorted the girl to ease herself came back and told Kadiri that she tried to escape.
Kadiri looked him in the eyes as he spoke and then looked at his zip. It was open. Kadiri asked him; Did you try to take advantage of her? The bandit started shivering at the question. Kadiri drew his pistol and shot him dead.
No one must touch any of these ladies or you will be dead just like him.
Two bandits stepped forward and took away the body of the bandit Kadiri shot.
Some of the bandits stood watch for the night while the others slept.
Very early in the morning, They loaded the teachers and girls back into the Mercedes truck and continued their journey through the Sahara.
