Police Free 15 NYSC Members Abducted In Anambra
BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – The Anambra Police Command said the 15 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) abducted by daredevil gunmen on Tuesday at Iseke in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State have regained their freedom.
Anambra Command Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Tochukwu Ikenga, who confirmed the development, said the affected corps members were rescued unhurt by officers of the Command.
A statement by DSP Ikenga read: “Anambra State Police operatives, responding to a distress call along Iseke -Ihiala road, rescued unhurt 15 abducted corps members from NYSC Orientation Camp, Eziama-Obaire, Nkwerre, LGA of Imo State.
“Information reveals that the Corps members finished their three weeks orientation programme on Tuesday and were en route to Lagos before their vehicle was intercepted at Total Filing Station junction in Ihiala by yet-to-be identified armed men in unmarked white Toyota Hilux.
“The Corps members’ vehicle was diverted to Iseke, along the Ihiala-Orlu Expressway where the gunmen held them hostage. The armed men, noticing that they were being followed by Police operatives, abandoned the Corps members and zoomed off with the Toyota Hiace bus with Reg Nos: EPE 353 YE conveying the NYSC members.”
According to the Police Spokesman; the Corps members were debriefed by police operatives, adding that necessary arrangements have been made to convey them back to their destinations.
The kidnapping incident is coming barely days after gunmen killed three police escorts attached to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State in the same community on their way to Abia State.
Iseke is a border community with the Orsu Local Government Area of Imo State and reports said the area has in recent times become a safe haven for rampaging gunmen in Imo State and parts of Ihiala in Anambra State.
Available reports further indicated that the NYSC members had completed their three weeks’ orientation programmes in Imo State and were traveling to Lagos when the hoodlums struck and ferried them away at a popular filling station along Onitsha- Owerri road in Ihiala.
A competent source in the area disclosed that the vehicle conveying the corps members was forced to divert towards the dreaded Ihiala – Orlu road and ended up at Iseke where the gunmen held the corps members hostage but had to abandon them and flee on being hotly chased by security operatives.