The Kogi State Police Command says it has rescued four passengers abducted on the Anyigba–Ankpa highway on Sunday, while efforts continue to locate three others who remain missing.
Gatekeepers News reports that in a statement, the command said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Egume received a distress call around 6:00 pm reporting two abandoned vehicles on the highway.
Security operatives deployed to the scene discovered a grey Hyundai Sonata with Abuja registration YAB821ES and a grey Toyota Camry with Kano registration DKD137AA.
According to Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency publication covering the Lake Chad region, the vehicles were travelling from Anyigba to Ankpa when attackers blocked the highway, fired sporadically into the air, abducted passengers, and fled into the bush with their captives.
Investigators recovered nine spent AK-47 shells at the scene and documented the area for forensic purposes.
The police said the Egume DPO coordinated an immediate response, launching bush combing operations and intelligence gathering that resulted in the rescue of four victims: Cletus Chen, his wife Joy Cletus, and two of their children, who were passengers in the Toyota Camry.
A police spokesperson confirmed that three other passengers remain missing.
“The command has obtained statements from the rescued victims. Investigation has commenced, while bush combing and intelligence operations continue with the aim of rescuing the remaining victims and apprehending the perpetrators,” the spokesperson said.
The incident is the latest in a series of highway kidnappings in Kogi State. On Friday, five people were reportedly killed, and several others abducted, during an attack on a commercial bus along the Oshokoshoko/Agbede highway, near a military checkpoint.
