By our reporter 3.10.2026
Gunmen who are holding National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members and other passengers’ hostage have rigged the location they are keeping the victims with explosives.
The NYSC members and the other passengers were kidnapped on Thursday along the Owerri-Onitsha, while going to their place of primary assignment in the Southeast and South-south
The buses they were travelling came under attack near the Umunoha axis in Mbaitoli Local Government. The police later recovered both vehicles and rescued 10 passengers at the scene. However, several others were believed to have been taken into the bush by the attackers.
According to Imo State Police Commissioner CP Audu Garba Bosso, the location has been identified with drone surveillance and other intelligence operations. But security agents wary of explosive devices are keep their distance for now.
“Yesterday we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location. But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinates showed us where they are,” he said.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” the police commissioner said.
He said that notwithstanding the security agents are preparing to storm the location.
“We are moving in there with high-velocity vehicles. We are moving with bulldozers and APCs to see how we are going to rescue these victims,” Bosso said.
NYSC members taken by gunmen in Imo State.