The Port Harcourt/Elele/Owerri road, as well as Ubima/Omeleru road, in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State, has become a deathtrap. On a daily basis, passengers and motorists are abducted and taken hostage. Despite the presence of a combined team of policemen and soldiers who mount many roadblocks on the road, kidnappers operate without hindrance. There are more than 13 police and army roadblocks on the road, along which there’s a thick forest.

The road is the gateway to Imo, Anambra and Delta states, as well as Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Lagos.

The road has become so dangerous that a lot of travellers avoid it like a plague and those who do not have an alternative ply it with much fear and anguish.

In August this year, the Rivers State command of the police said it rescued eight persons from an 18-seater passenger bus that was hijacked at night by gunmen along Elele-Omarelu road.

Confirming the incident in Port Harcourt, the public relations officer of the command, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, said six of the passengers were held captive for days before they were rescued, adding that two corpses were recovered from the kidnappers.

The bus was reportedly travelling from Owerri, Imo State, to Port Harcourt when the bandits ambushed and diverted it to an unknown destination.

The commander of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) monitoring unit in the state, Bennett Igwe, whose team rescued the victims, had assured members of the public that efforts had been intensified by his team to ensure a successful and safe rescue of the remaining passengers.

The victims were later rescued after spending six nights in the kidnappers’ den.

Shortly after that incident, another 18-seater bus returning to Port Harcourt from Abuja was hijacked along the same road. All the passengers were taken hostage for days until they were rescued by the IGP monitoring team.

Also, residents of the state, especially motorists and travellers who ply Elele, Omerelu and Ubima routes are scared over the activities of notorious kidnappers and ritual killers.

When contacted, the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State command, Almed Zaki, said his men had increased patrol along the road. He said he had directed them to redouble their efforts at raiding all the hideouts of the criminals, including bushes and forests.

•Excerpted from Daily Trust report