Abducted NYSC members: Police locate kidnappers’ camp in Imo

The Imo State Police Command has located the camp where 20 prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), abducted in the state, are believed to be held.

The state Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, disclosed this while providing an update on efforts to rescue the victims.

The prospective corps members were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked two buses in the Umunoha area of Imo State on Thursday.

Bosso said security operatives had been tracking the abductors and were able to establish the location of the camp through intelligence gathering and drone surveillance.

“Yesterday we were in the bush, we trailed them to a particular location,” the commissioner said.

He explained that although the security team had obtained the coordinates of the location, operatives could not immediately move into the area because of the potential danger posed by explosives.

“At that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinates showed us where they are because we ran a drone yesterday and the drone actually showed us exactly their location,” he said.

According to the police commissioner, intelligence available to the security agencies indicated that the kidnappers had planted improvised explosive devices (IEDs) around the camp.

“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” Bosso said.

He said the police were therefore preparing to deploy specialised equipment and heavily protected vehicles to gain access to the location without exposing the rescue team to unnecessary risks.

“We are moving in there with high-velocity vehicles,” he said.

“We are moving with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims on hot.”