The Imo State Police Command says it has located the suspected hideout where 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Road are believed to be held, but security operatives have delayed advancing into the area over fears of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The state Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, disclosed this on Saturday while providing an update on the search-and-rescue operation.
Bosso said security operatives tracked the suspected abductors into the bush before deploying drones on Friday to identify their location.
According to him, aerial surveillance helped security agencies establish the coordinates of the suspected camp, but intelligence reports indicating that the area had been mined with explosives prevented an immediate advance.
“Yesterday, we were in the bush, we trailed them up to a particular location. But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinate showed us where they are because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location,” Bosso said.
He added that the suspected presence of IEDs had complicated the operation, with security agencies weighing how to approach the location without endangering the abducted passengers or rescue personnel.
The commissioner said operatives were preparing to move into the area with heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, to support the rescue mission.
“We’re moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” he said.
The abduction occurred on Thursday, October 1, when gunmen attacked two buses conveying prospective corps members from Ibadan, Oyo State, to their NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The attack took place along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Imo State.
Isiah Akpan, managing director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, said 19 passengers, all prospective corps members, were taken into the bush. The drivers reportedly escaped and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting a search operation.
The kidnappers have reportedly demanded ₦50 million for each victim, bringing the total ransom demand to ₦950 million.
Some families were reportedly contacted through the mobile phones of their abducted relatives. One mother, identified as Mrs Oladosu, told Saturday PUNCH that her family received a call through her daughter’s phone and saw some of the victims during a video call.
The reported ransom demand has heightened anxiety among relatives, who have appealed to authorities to secure the victims’ safe release.
The Imo State Police Command had earlier announced that 10 people had been rescued, but its spokesperson, Henry Okoye, could not confirm whether those rescued were among the 19 prospective corps members abducted in the incident.
The latest update indicates that security operatives have narrowed their search to a suspected location, although the reported explosive threat remains a major obstacle to reaching the victims.
Police have not announced the rescue of the remaining prospective corps members.
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