*As police rescue 12 victims

The Enugu Police Command says it has rescued 12 kidnap victims various bushes in the state.CP Ahmed Ammani

The Enugu police operatives also foiled a kidnap attempt.

This is even as suspected Fulani herdsmen have reportedly taken over the Ugwogo/Opi/Nsukka bypass making it a hell for road users. 

The Umulumgbe, Awhum, Abor axis along the Old 9th Mile/Nsukka federal highway is also a dean of these nefarious daily criminal kidnappers.

There have been reports of renewed kidnap cases as well as attacks on motorists along the listed roads.

Recent accounts by victims say that unlucky motorists are being attacked, kidnapped and taken into the bushes for payment of huge amounts of money as ransom.

A statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, Enugu Police Command (PPRO), DSP Daniel Ndukwe, said that the state Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Ammani, has ordered the deployment of more intelligence/operational resources to further contain the rising kidnap incidents on the roads.

The statement noted that police operatives of the Command serving in Unity Division, on 21/09/2022 at about 7.10pm, got a distress call, alleging that suspected kidnappers blocked the road between Ekwegbe-Agu and Neke-Uno communities respectively in Enugu East and Igbo-Etiti L.G.As, along Enugu/Opi/Nsukka Highway.

Most of the kidnapped, sources say are dropped off around the bushes in Umulumgbe, Ekwegbe or Awhum, after the kidnappers had received ransom.

Also, those kidnapped along the federal highway are dropped off around Ugwogo-Nike or Ekwegbe Agu forests, along the Ugwogo-Opi highway.

The team reportedly responded and foiled the unidentified hoodlums’ attempt to kidnap some road users after a gun duel.

They succeeded in rescuing two male victims, the criminal elements were at the verge of kidnapping, and also recovered their vehicles.