TheCable

Dasuki Galadanchi, Imo commissioner of police, says five members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have been rescued from kidnappers.

The victims, who were traveling from Ibadan, Oyo state capital, to their orientation camps in Akwa Ibom and Rivers, were kidnapped on Wednesday along the Owerri-Port Harcourt expressway and taken to the Umuapu forest in the Ohaji/Egbema local government area of Imo.

Two other passengers were also kidnapped alongside the corps members.

Speaking with journalists after the victims were rescued, Galadanchi said the kidnappers established contact with the families of the corps members and demanded N5m ransom.

He gave the names of the corps members as Abiola Temitope, Olubisi Adekanmi, Jose Temitayo, Folarin Opeyemi and Shonibare Ademola.

The two other victims were identified as Leonard Uzondu and Raymond Ojodahe.

“The victims were travelling from Ibadan to Port Harcourt. Five out of the seven of them are prospective corps members. They were on their way to the NYSC orientation camps in Rivers and Akwa Ibom states for the three weeks camping,” he said.

“They were kidnapped around 5am on Wednesday at Umuapu, on the Owerri-Port-Harcourt Expressway. The kidnappers took them to a forest and dispossessed them of all their belongings, including money, phones, ATM cards and voter cards.

“They compelled them to call their relatives at home to speak to them. Immediately contact was established, they instilled fear in the parents and demanded N5m for their freedom.”

Galandanchi said operatives of the counter-terrorism unit of the command were alerted through intelligence gathering.

“The operatives went into the bush and on sighting the officers, the kidnappers abandoned their victims and fled. We rescued them unhurt, but the hoodlums made away with their valuables,” he said.

“This is part of the dividends of community policing. I urge Imo state residents to keep sharing information with the police. We cannot do it alone.”