Imo kidnap: Police locate camp holding 19 NYSC corps members

The Imo State Police Command has located the suspected camp 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 a ground assault over fears that the area may have been rigged with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

The Commissioner of Police in Imo State, CP Audu Garba Bosso, disclosed this on Saturday while providing an update on the ongoing search-and-rescue operation.

Bosso said security operatives had trailed the suspected abductors into the bush before deploying drones on Friday to pinpoint the location of their camp.

According to him, the drone surveillance successfully identified the suspected location of the kidnappers and their captives. However, intelligence suggesting that the area had been mined with explosives has forced security agencies to proceed cautiously.

The commissioner said the security forces would enter the area, but only after putting measures in place to minimise the risks to both the victims and personnel.

He explained that security agencies were preparing to deploy heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers (APCs), as part of the operation to access the suspected camp safely.

“We are moving in there with 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,” Bosso said.

The development comes two days after suspected armed men attacked two buses conveying prospective corps members travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The buses came under attack around Umunoha along the Owerri-Onitsha Road on Thursday, with the abductors reportedly taking 19 prospective corps members into the bush.

The Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, Isiah Akpan, said the two drivers escaped and alerted security personnel at a nearby checkpoint, prompting security agencies to launch a search operation.

The abductors have reportedly demanded ₦50 million for each of the 19 victims, bringing the alleged total ransom demand to ₦950 million.

Some families have reportedly been contacted through the phones of their abducted relatives. One of the victims’ mothers, Mrs Oladosu, said her family received a call from her daughter’s phone and that some of the victims were seen during a video call.

The Punch reports that police had earlier announced the rescue of 10 victims following the attack, although the command’s spokesperson, Henry Okoye, said it could not immediately confirm whether those rescued were among the prospective corps members abducted from the two buses.