The Imo State Police Command and the 34 Artillery Brigade, Owerri, have said efforts are ongoing to secure the rescue of 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in Umunoha, Ogbaku, in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.
PUNCH Online reports that two fully loaded commercial buses travelling from Ibadan to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and Bende, Abia State, were attacked by gunmen at about 6:30 am on Thursday at Umunoha, a location known as “No Man’s Land”, Ogbaku, in the Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the Imo State Police Command, DSP Henry Okoye, in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Sunday, said security operatives were conducting an operation to rescue the victims.
Okoye said, “We’re conducting the operation and gradually closing in. We will keep you posted.”
Also, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, the Public Relations Officer of the 34 Artillery Brigade, Owerri, Major Hashimu Abdullahi, said the development was receiving adequate attention, adding that all security agencies were working together to rescue the kidnapped travellers.
Abdullahi said, “Please be assured that all necessary efforts are being made in collaboration with all relevant security agencies regarding the matter. The situation is receiving the required attention, and every available avenue is being explored to ensure a positive outcome”.
He said the Army would update the media immediately if there were significant developments.
He said, “We will keep you informed of any significant developments as they become available. Thanks, and we appreciate your medium for your understanding.”
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, said on Saturday that the command had identified the location where the 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in the state were being held, but security operatives had delayed moving into the camp over fears that it was planted with improvised explosive devices.
According to him, the police used drones on Friday to locate the suspected camp after security operatives trailed the abductors into the bush but were cautious because intelligence indicated that the camp had been mined with IEDs.
Bosso said, “At any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location.
“But at that point in time, we couldn’t move into where the coordinates showed us where they are because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the IED is—the camp is mined with IEDs”.
Bosso said the security agencies were preparing to move into the area with heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, in an effort to rescue the victims safely.
“We are moving in there with high, you know, high-velocity vehicles, that is, bulldozers; we’re moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, had disclosed that the abductors took 19 passengers, all prospective corps members, into the bush.
He said the drivers escaped and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting security agencies to commence a search of the area.
The abductors have reportedly demanded N50m for each of the 19 victims, amounting to N950m, with some families contacted through the phones of their abducted relatives.
Already, parents and family members of the kidnapped prospective corps members had appealed for intervention when they visited the Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Rashidi Ladoja, at his private residence in Bodija, Ibadan, alongside the state Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, and the Aseyin of Iseyinland, Oba Sefiu Adeyeri.
Speaking on behalf of the affected families, Alhaja Akande and Oyebola Akande said the abductors had been contacting them through the mobile phones of the kidnapped prospective corps members.
“They have been calling us since yesterday (Friday) with a demand for N50m ransom each. They are threatening that anything untoward will happen to our children if we fail to heed to their request.
“There is no way we can raise such an amount at this time. Baba, kindly assist us. Don’t let them kill our children,” the parents said.
The parents appealed to Oba Ladoja and the police commissioner to intervene and secure the immediate release of their children.
In the past, security forces had targeted and raided Eastern Security Network forest hideouts and camps spanning the Umunoha axis.