The Imo State Police Command has located the camp where 20 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in the state are believed to be held, Commissioner of Police Audu Bosso has said.
Bosso disclosed this while giving an update on ongoing efforts by security agencies to rescue the victims, who were abducted while travelling to their respective NYSC orientation camps.
The prospective corps members were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen reportedly attacked two buses around Umunoha in Imo State on Thursday.
According to the police commissioner, security operatives had been tracking the abductors and eventually established the location of their camp through intelligence gathering and drone surveillance.
“Yesterday we were in the bush, we trailed them to a particular location,” Bosso said.
He explained that although security operatives obtained the coordinates of the camp, they could not immediately move into the area after a drone deployed for surveillance revealed the suspected location.
“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.
Bosso said intelligence available to the security agencies indicated that the camp had been surrounded with improvised explosive devices (IEDs), making a direct approach potentially dangerous.
“But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs,” the commissioner said.
He said security operatives were consequently preparing to deploy specialised equipment and heavily protected vehicles to gain access to the camp and rescue the abducted prospective corps members while minimising risks to the rescue team.
“We are moving in there with high-velocity vehicles,” Bosso said.
He added:
“We are moving with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt.”
The police command said efforts to secure the safe release of the victims were ongoing.
