Edo: Abducted passengers’ families in search of ransom money

From Tony Osauzo, Benin

Families of passengers abducted on Tuesday by gunmen on Benin-Auchi road in Edo State are said to be frantically seeking for money to pay ransom to free them from captivity before Christmas following contacts with them by the gunmen.

“I can confirm to you that the families of the abducted passengers have been contacted by the gunmen. Some families are already making efforts to raise money to free their people,” a source said yesterday.

According to the source, other people were also kidnapped apart from those in the Abuja bound bus, while vehicles parked for several hours before Ehor as there were also reported cases of armed robbery on the road on the fateful day.

Spokesman of the Edo State Police Command, Chidi Nwabuzor, disclosed, yesterday, that the bus in which the passengers were travelling belonged to Big Joe Transport Company and that the policemen moved in to rescue the kidnapped passengers.

“A bus belonging to Big Joe was intercepted by hoodlums referred to as kidnappers. While that was going on, the nearby police formation responded, repelled the hoodlums and rescued some passengers with three persons taken away to the bush.

“Investigation involving the police in Ehor and other tactical teams is still ongoing. They started combing the bush the moment the incident happened and hoping that these victims will be rescued,”  Nwabuzor said.