The Kogi State Police Command has rescued 11 people, including National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, who were abducted along the Aloma-Egane Expressway in Ofu Local Government Area of the state.
The victims were reportedly travelling from the NYSC orientation camp in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of Bayelsa State towards Abuja when armed men ambushed their vehicles on Wednesday.
The attackers were said to have emerged from the bush around 4:40pm near Ogene Zaria, close to the Ogene Zaria/Onicha-Igo Junction, where they blocked two buses travelling in opposite directions and abducted some of the passengers.
In a statement made available to TheCable on Friday, spokesperson for the Kogi State Police Command, Saliu Afusat, said security operatives launched an immediate rescue operation after receiving a distress call.
According to Afusat, the operation led to the rescue of 11 abducted victims, including the drivers of the two buses involved in the incident.
She said preliminary debriefing revealed that most of the rescued victims were NYSC members travelling from Bayelsa State to Abuja.
“Upon receipt of the distress call, the Divisional Police Officer, Ofu, led a joint security team to the scene, where two abandoned vehicles — a Peace Mass Transit white Hummer bus and a yellow 18-seater bus — were recovered,” Afusat said.
She added that security operatives subsequently launched a coordinated bush-combing and rescue operation, which resulted in the recovery of the 11 victims.
The rescued persons were debriefed and, after completing the necessary procedures, were allowed to continue their journey, the police spokesperson said.
However, the police did not disclose the exact number of people abducted during the attack, while efforts were still ongoing to determine how many NYSC members and other passengers remained in captivity.
Afusat said the police and other security agencies had deployed “every available operational and intelligence resource” to locate and rescue any remaining victims and apprehend those responsible for the attack.
The incident has renewed concerns over the safety of travellers along highways in parts of Kogi State, particularly amid growing reports of highway abductions.
