Police Locate Camp Where Abducted NYSC Members Are Held, Say Area Mined With IEDs
By Mercy Tula, SOUTH SOUTH DESK – The Imo State Police Command has located the suspected camp where abducted prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are being held, but security operatives have delayed moving into the area after intelligence indicated that the hideout had been mined with improvised explosive devices.
The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Command, Audu Garba Bosso, disclosed this while giving an update on the ongoing search-and-rescue operation.
According to him, security operatives trailed the suspected kidnappers into the bush and deployed drones which helped to identify the exact location of the camp.
Bosso, however, said the presence of suspected IEDs around the location had made it dangerous for security personnel to immediately advance into the camp.
“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 coordinates showed us where they are,” the commissioner said.
He added, “The drone actually showed us exactly their location. But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs.”
The police boss said security agencies were preparing to deploy heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, as part of efforts to gain access to the area and rescue the victims unharmed.
The development followed the abduction of prospective corps members travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen reportedly attacked the passengers along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway around the Umunoha area of Mbaitoli Local Government Area of Imo State.
The police have put the number of prospective corps members believed to be held by the abductors at 19, while reports on the wider number of passengers affected by the attack have varied.
Bosso said the rescue operation was being conducted with caution because the primary objective remained the safe recovery of the victims.
The police commissioner also said the investigation into the incident had commenced, but declined to disclose the identity of the suspected kidnappers, saying the investigation was still ongoing.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Umar Nadada, who was deployed to Imo State by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, to coordinate the rescue operation, assured the victims’ families that security agencies were working to secure their safe release.
Nadada urged the families to cooperate with the security agencies as efforts intensified to rescue the abducted prospective corps members.
The development has heightened anxiety among the victims’ relatives, with some families reportedly receiving ransom demands. One report said some families were allegedly asked to pay as much as N50 million for individual victims, although ransom figures reported by different families have varied.
Parents and relatives of the abducted graduates have appealed to the Federal Government and the Imo and Oyo State governments to intensify efforts to secure their release.
The police, however, have maintained that the operation is focused on rescuing the victims safely while avoiding casualties, particularly given the reported presence of explosives around the kidnappers’ camp.
As security operatives prepare to enter the suspected hideout with specialised equipment, families of the abducted prospective corps members continue to await the safe return of their loved ones.
