Nigerian troops
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, has said the command has no knowledge of any ransom payment for the release of 20 abducted prospective National Youth Service Corps members and another victim.
Speaking to Channels Television on Thursday, Bosso attributed their freedom to sustained pressure from security agencies during a search-and-rescue operation.
He said security personnel combed the forest, forcing the kidnappers to yield to the pressure. The commissioner added that the Department of State Services (DSS) office was attending to the freed victims.
The prospective corps members and another traveller were kidnapped on October 1 along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State.
They were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when the abductors struck.
Meanwhile, families of some of the 20 NYSC prospective members rescued in Imo State have said they paid millions of naira in ransom before receiving news of their release.
Speaking to News Central Television, the relatives recounted how they borrowed money and sought financial support to meet the abductors’ demands.
According to the station, some families paid more than ₦3 million, while others reportedly handed over as much as ₦6 million.
A mother of one of the corps members said she raised ₦3 million amid fears for her child’s safety and arranged for the money to be delivered in Imo State.
“I paid as much as ₦3 million as ransom while I was hoping that nothing happened to my child. I ran helter-skelter to raise the money. I eventually got the money and sent someone to Imo State to deliver the ransom,” she told News Central Television
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