By Peter Duru, Makurdi
MAKURDI: The Benue State Police Command has rescued 13 more passengers abducted by suspected armed herdsmen along the Otukpo-Adoka Road while travelling from Enugu to Abuja.
The victims were among passengers of an 18-seater bus ambushed on August 14, 2026. Five passengers had earlier been rescued by the police hours after the incident.
The Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Peter Aondongu, who disclosed this in a statement, said the latest rescue followed five days of sustained search-and-rescue operations by police operatives in collaboration with local security personnel.
According to him, acting on credible intelligence, the operatives embarked on a night operation which culminated in the rescue of the victims at about 2am on August 20 at Amla-Cho Forest in Otukpo Local Government Area of the state.
Aondongu said: “Although the suspects fled the scene under the cover of darkness, the victims were successfully rescued unhurt.”
He added that the operatives had, on August 16, engaged the kidnappers in a fierce gun battle, during which one suspect was neutralised, while an AK-47 rifle and five rounds of live ammunition were recovered.
The rescued victims were taken to a medical facility for treatment before being conveyed to their respective destinations in a chartered bus.
The police spokesman explained that verification of the passenger manifest revealed that four additional passengers had not been captured in the initial documentation, raising the number of victims rescued in the latest operation from nine to 13.
He said the command was intensifying efforts to apprehend the fleeing suspects through sustained intelligence-led operations.
The Commissioner of Police, CP Cletus Nwadiogbu, commended the personnel for their “courage, resilience and sustained efforts” and assured residents that the command, in collaboration with other security agencies, would continue operations against criminal elements across the state.
The command also urged transport operators to maintain accurate and complete passenger manifests, stressing that proper documentation was critical to the timely identification, verification and rescue of victims during emergencies.
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