The Inspector-General of Police, Tunji Disu, has ordered the deployment of additional operational assets and tactical teams to reinforce personnel already on the ground in Imo State and secure the release of abducted National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members.

Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Umar Nadada, disclosed this after his deployment to Imo by the IGP to coordinate the rescue operation.

“Definitely, let them rest assured that they are going to be rescued safely. They should cooperate with us. I know it’s difficult, particularly for the parents of the victims,” Nadada said.

“I know what they are feeling, but they should work with the security agencies.”

The commissioner said an investigation had commenced but declined to identify those responsible beyond describing them as unknown gunmen.

“The investigation has commenced. We don’t want to pre-empt anything,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, has said operatives have located the camp where abducted prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are being held, but explosives have been planted at the site.

The 20 victims were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom States when gunmen attacked two buses in the Umunoha area of Imo State on Thursday.

Bosso, in an interview on Saturday, said police operatives had tracked the group they were pursuing to a location in the bush but could not advance into the camp because intelligence indicated that it was mined with explosives.

“Yesterday we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location. But then, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinates showed us where they are,” he said.

The commissioner said drone surveillance had helped operatives pinpoint the location, but the presence of improvised explosive devices posed an obstacle to the rescue operation.

“The drone actually showed us exactly their location. But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the IEDs, the camp is mined with IEDs,” Bosso said.

He said police were deploying vehicles, bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers to support efforts to reach the victims and bring them out safely.

“We are moving with bulldozers and APCs,” he said, adding that the aim was to rescue the victims unhurt. (The Guardian)

Update news