A 33-year-old operative of the Department of State Services, Sadiq Bindawa, has been murdered by suspected kidnappers in Katsina.

The kidnappers reportedly collected N5m from his friends and relatives before killing him.

According to sources, Bindawa’s dead body was discovered in Kurfi town on Sunday morning.

Bindawa, who worked at the Abuja office of the DSS, was said to be in Katsina over the weekend.

His kidnappers were said to have trailed him to his house behind the Federal Secretariat complex, Dandagoro, Katsina, around 10.30pm on Saturday.

Witnesses revealed that the kidnappers first attacked the private security guards at the entrance of the building before whisking Bindawa away.

It was further learnt that the gunmen later got across to his family and friends through his phone and demanded a ransom of N13m.

A sum of N5m was said to have been taken to the kidnappers at a nearby Charanchi town, as they were directed to pick him at Kurfi.

“We went to Kurfi on Sunday, hoping to pick him as directed, but we saw only his corpse with parts of the body riddled with bullets. We reported the incident at the Batagarawa Police Station” a family source said.

The spokesman for the Katsina State Police Command, SP Gambo Isah, referred enquiry on the incident to the DSS.

Security operatives at the Katsina headquarters of the DSS denied entry to the director’s office, insisting visits were strictly by appointment.

Meanwhile Bindawa’s remains were buried in Katsina on Monday.