Police in Kogi have rescued 11 people, including NYSC members, after suspected kidnappers attacked two buses along the Aloma-Egane Expressway.
The Kogi State Police Command has rescued 11 people following an attack by suspected kidnappers along the Aloma-Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
The victims were reportedly abducted on Wednesday when armed men emerged from a bushy area along the highway and intercepted two buses travelling in opposite directions.
Some of those taken away were members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), who were on their way from Bayelsa State to Abuja.
The incident reportedly occurred at about 4:40pm around Ogene Zaria, close to the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction.
According to the police, the attackers blocked the two vehicles before forcing some of the passengers into the bush.
The victims had reportedly departed from an NYSC orientation camp located in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State before travelling towards Abuja when the incident occurred.
The attack triggered an immediate response from security agencies after a distress call was received.
The spokesperson for the Kogi State Police Command, Saliu Afusat, confirmed the development in a statement made available to TheCable on Friday.
Afusat explained that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ofu quickly mobilised a joint security team and moved towards the location of the incident.
When the operatives arrived at the scene, they found two vehicles that had apparently been abandoned during the attack.
The vehicles, according to the police, included a white Hummer bus belonging to Peace Mass Transit and a yellow 18-seater bus.
Their recovery provided security personnel with important information about the circumstances surrounding the abduction and prompted a wider search operation in the surrounding bush.
Afusat said security personnel subsequently embarked on a coordinated bush-combing exercise as they worked to locate the abducted passengers and track down the assailants.
The operation eventually paid off, with 11 victims recovered from the area.
The rescued persons included the drivers of the two buses, while preliminary questioning showed that most of the other victims were NYSC members travelling from Bayelsa State towards Abuja.
The police did not immediately provide details of how long the victims had spent in captivity before they were rescued.
Following their recovery, the victims were taken through the necessary security procedures and debriefed by the authorities.
The police later allowed them to continue their journeys after the required processes had been completed.
Although the rescue operation brought relief to the affected passengers and their families, the command has not disclosed the total number of people who were initially abducted.
It also remains unclear how many NYSC members may still be missing following the attack.
The police said efforts were ongoing to establish the exact number of people involved and determine whether any victims remained in the custody of the attackers.
The command also assured that the search operation had not been called off.
According to Afusat, the police, working with other security agencies, had deployed available operational and intelligence resources to locate any remaining victims and bring those responsible for the attack to justice.
The authorities are expected to continue searching the surrounding areas while gathering intelligence that could assist in identifying the suspected kidnappers and their possible hideouts.
The incident adds to concerns over the safety of travellers using major roads that pass through isolated communities and bushy stretches in Kogi State.
Road users have continued to face security challenges in some parts of the country, with kidnappers often taking advantage of poorly populated sections of highways to attack vehicles.
For members of the NYSC, such incidents are particularly concerning because corps members frequently travel between states as part of their deployment, orientation and official assignments.
In this case, the affected corps members were reportedly returning from Bayelsa State and heading towards Abuja when their journey was interrupted by the attack.
The circumstances surrounding the incident are still being investigated, and the police have not announced any arrest linked to the operation.
Security agencies are expected to intensify intelligence gathering and surveillance around the affected route in an effort to prevent another attack.
The police also urged efforts to continue towards identifying all the victims and ensuring the safe recovery of anyone who may still be missing.
For the 11 people already rescued, the operation has provided a measure of relief after what was reportedly a frightening encounter on the highway.
Authorities, however, still face the task of determining the full scale of the abduction, locating any remaining victims and bringing the suspected perpetrators before the law.
The Kogi Police Command said it would continue working with other security agencies until the situation is fully brought under control.
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