The ever-busy Benin-Auchi highway yesterday came under attack as gunmen suspected to be kidnappers laid siege to the road and kidnapped a sizable number of persons traveling
on the route.
Two persons were killed while over 20 others were abducted at gunpoint by the gunmen at Obagie community on the Benin-Ekpoma-Auchi road in Uhunmwonde Local Government Area of the state.
The dead victims of the attack included a member of the local vigilante group and one of the passengers on a commercial bus that was used to barricade the road by the gunmen.
It was gathered that the gunmen emerged from the bush and forced the commercial bus to stop at gunpoint and then whisked away passengers into the bush.
The driver of a truck who refused to stop after it was flagged down by the kidnappers rammed into the bus, killing one of the occupants. The development was said to have caused gridlock on the highway as motorists had to abandon their vehicles and scampered to safety.
A source told newsmen that 10 persons were kidnapped and that security agents have been deployed to the area.
Benin-Auchi road had for a long time been a den of robbers, kidnappers, and other criminal elements. It was gathered that the gunmen had first attacked a commercial bus at the Urhokosa/Obagie end of the road, abducting several passengers.
The kidnappers, who were operating in groups, got a group to lead the first set of the victims into the bush en-route to the kidnappers’ den, while a second group caused the driver of the bus to use the vehicle to block the road.
A trailer driver refused to stop and rammed his articulated vehicle into the bus. Other vehicles, which ran into the traffic jam, occasioned by the blockade, were attacked by another group of the kidnappers, who selected victims and marched them to join the earlier captured passengers.
A member of a vigilante group in the area, who acted bravely by confronting the gunmen, was shot dead by the kidnappers, according to an eyewitness, who narrowly escaped into the bush while the confusion reigned on the road as the gunmen operated without challenge.
The escaped victim, who claimed that he had to abandon his vehicle to run into the bush, added that he met some other persons who also escaped in the bush, just as the gunmen were shooting sporadically for a long time without any resistance from the security agents.
The Police Public Relations officers, SP Chidi Nwanbuzor, said: “Yes, the command is aware of the kidnap, but we are yet to ascertain the number of passengers that were kidnapped.”
Thank you for taking your time in reading through our Journal Today. We wish to always provide you with qualitative Stories as far as GOOD-JOURNALISM is CONCERN. But good journalism costs a lot of money and only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, accountability democracy, and a transparent government.
For continued free access to the best investigative journalism, we ask you to consider subscribing to our daily news updates.
