Gunmen on Monday took 18 passengers on board a commercial bus and the driver captive along East-West road area of Emohua Lical Government Area (LGA), of Rivers state abandoning the bus.
According to an eye witness, the assailants that are suspected to be kidnappers marched the victims into a thick forest unchallenged, leaving the bus parked by the side of the road.
Giving the first success, the kidnappers later came back to the same area to take on another passenger bus, when they ran into a community vigilante group “Rundele /Odogu security, peace and Advisory Committee (ROSPAC) from Emohua LGA who were in the area to search for the already kidnapped passengers with the aim of rescuing them, when they saw the kidnapper attempting to hijack the second bus.
The local vigilante members moved in to foil the kidnappers plan and in the process killed three of the kidnappers, while the others escaped.
Meanwhile the whereabouts of the kidnap occupants of the first bus is not yet to be determined.
However, the spokesman of the state Police command, Nnamdi Omoni, last night claimed that police killed the kidnappers and arrested five.
In a statement he signed by Omoni, he said men of Operation sting intercepted and stalled the attempt to hijack the vehicle and successfully rescued all the passengers.
However, photographs of those allegedly arrested was not made available to the media, even as the photograph of the bodies of the three kidnapped were provided.
Omoni said that those being held are helping them in their investigation.
