The Imo State Police Command says it has located the camp where 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members abducted in the state are being held.
The Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, disclosed this on Saturday while giving an update on the ongoing search-and-rescue operation.
Bosso said security operatives traced the abductors into the bush on Friday and deployed drones, which helped pinpoint the location of the suspected camp.
However, he said operatives had not moved into the area because intelligence indicated that the camp had been planted with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
“Yesterday, we were in the bush; we trailed them up to a particular location. But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinates showed us where they are because we ran drones yesterday,” Bosso said.
“The drone actually showed us exactly their location. But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the camp is mined with IEDs.”
The police commissioner said security agencies were preparing to enter the area with heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, as part of efforts to rescue the victims safely.
“We are moving in there with high-velocity vehicles, that is, bulldozers. We’re moving in with bulldozers and APCs to see how we’re going to rescue these victims unhurt,” he said.
The development follows the abduction of prospective corps members travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The victims were travelling in two buses when gunmen reportedly attacked them along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Imo State on Thursday.
