Police say a rescue operation is under way for six mourners abducted along Adoka Road in Otukpo Local Government Area, Benue State, on Friday.
Benue State Police Command spokesperson Orchia Peter Aondongu confirmed the abduction in a telephone interview with Leadership, saying officers had been deployed to find the victims.
The group, including a bereaved husband and five others, was travelling from Kano to Okpoga in Okpokwu Local Government Area for his wife’s burial when gunmen intercepted their vehicle.
The attackers took the occupants away but left the woman’s remains behind, according to the reports.
Daily Trust reported that it was the second such abduction of mourners on the Otukpo–Ogobia–Adoka corridor in less than five months, after three siblings carrying their mother’s remains were kidnapped there in July.
Otukpo council chairman Maxwell Ogiri told journalists on Monday that the driver was his friend. He said security agencies, local vigilantes and youths were working to secure the group’s release, Punch reported.
Reports differ on the ransom demand. Ogiri put it at N15 million in his remarks to journalists, while Leadership quoted an unnamed source giving N20 million.
Aondongu confirmed the rescue deployment but did not give a ransom figure or announce any release in the reports.
Sources: Leadership; Punch; Daily Trust
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