Imo NYSC Abduction: Police Locate Kidnappers’ Camp, Say Location Mined With IEDs
Police in Imo State have located the camp where prospective NYSC members abducted last week are being held, but say the location is believed to be mined with Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs.
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, disclosed this on Saturday while giving an update on the rescue operation.
The victims - about 20 prospective corps members - were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom States when gunmen attacked two buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road around Umunoha in Mbaitoli LGA on Thursday, October 1. The drivers escaped and alerted security.
Bosso said operatives tracked the kidnappers into the bush and deployed drones which gave them exact coordinates of the hideout.
"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 CP said.
He said security forces could not advance immediately because of the risk to both victims and rescuers.
According to him, police are now mobilizing heavy equipment including bulldozers and Armoured Personnel Carriers, APCs, to clear a path and storm the camp safely.
"We are moving in there with high-velocity vehicles, bulldozers and APCs to see how we are going to rescue these victims unhurt," Bosso said.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, has deployed additional officers to Imo, including DIG Operations, Shehu Nadada, and two commissioners of police to coordinate the rescue.
Nada, who arrived Friday, assured families the victims will be rescued safely and appealed for cooperation.
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