Suspected kidnappers believed to be holding National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and other passengers abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway have been traced to a forest camp.
The location was identified through drone surveillance and other intelligence operations.
Reports say that security personnel have yet to enter the area because the camp is believed to be surrounded by improvised explosive devices.
The disclosure was made by Commissioner of Police in Imo State, CP Audu Garba Bosso.
He said operatives followed the suspects into the bush and reached a point from which drones supplied the coordinates of the hideout.
“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,” he said.
He added that the suspected presence of explosives had complicated the operation.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” the police commissioner said.
According to him, security agencies were preparing to approach the location with specialised equipment and protected vehicles. He said bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers would be used to clear the route and reduce the risk to the rescue teams.
“We are moving in there with high-velocity vehicles. We are moving with bulldozers and APCs to see how we are going to rescue these victims,” Bosso said.
The search followed an attack on two buses carrying passengers along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway on Thursday, October 1, 2026. The vehicles were conveying prospective corps members from Ibadan to orientation camps and other destinations in the South-East and South-South.
Those buses came under attack near the Umunoha axis in Mbaitoli Local Government Area while travelling towards Uyo in Akwa Ibom State and Bende in Abia State.
The police later recovered both vehicles and rescued 10 passengers at the scene. However, several others were believed to have been taken into the bush by the attackers.
The Imo State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Henry Okoye, said tactical units and personnel from other security agencies had been deployed to pursue the suspects and locate the missing passengers.
“Two buses, conveying NYSC corps members and other passengers from Ibadan to Uyo, and Bende in Abia, respectively, were attacked by suspected armed men,” Okoye said.
“Following a swift response by the Police and other security agencies, both buses have been recovered and 10 victims were rescued at the scene.”
He said those rescued were safe and receiving the required assistance, while intelligence-led operations continued in the surrounding areas.
“Operatives are conducting coordinated search and rescue operations, backed by intelligence-led tracking of the suspects,” he added.
The Defence Headquarters subsequently said 20 passengers had been taken from the two buses, including prospective corps members. It confirmed that 10 people, among them eight prospective corps members, had been rescued.
The military said troops under Operation Udoka were working with the police and the Department of State Services, with aerial support from the Nigerian Air Force, to recover the remaining victims.
Meanwhile, the incident has also drawn the attention of the Oyo State Government because some of those abducted were travelling from the state.
The government said it was coordinating with the Imo State Government, security agencies and the NYSC to support efforts to secure the victims’ release.
Oyo State Commissioner for Information, Prince Dotun Oyelade, said Governor Seyi Makinde had ordered the release of resources needed to assist the operation.
“We are fully committed to securing the safe release of our children and will stop at nothing to ensure that they are reunited with their families without harm,” Oyelade said.
He said officials remained in contact with security authorities, the Imo State Government and the NYSC leadership to ensure that information was shared and the rescue effort remained coordinated.
The state government urged relatives of the abducted corps members to remain calm, condemned the attack and reaffirmed that the welfare of Oyo indigenes remained a priority wherever they were.
COURTESY: PoliticsNigeria
