Okafor Ofiebor/ Port Harcourt
Another 18 – seater commercial bus was hijacked by criminals who susbsequetly kidnapped the passengers along Omarelu/Owerri Road in the early hours of Friday barely two weeks after a similar event in the area, it has been gathered.
Sources told this magazine that the passenger bus was hijacked the same way an18 Seater bus was hijacked and the passengers inside kidnapped by suspected criminals terrorizing Elele-Omarelu axis of Port Harcourt-Owerri road in Ikwerre Local Government area of Rivers State about two weeks ago.
An eyewitness within Omarelu community who claim that he witnessed the incident, said the 18 seater bus was fully loaded with passengers who were returning from Owerri into Port Harcourt in early hours of Friday.
He added that the bus was commaded to stop at a gunpoint by the criminals who subsequtly diverted it into a primary school within the community used as temporary camp by the kidnappers.
He expressed regret that the hoodlums carry out kidnapping activities and hijack of commercial buses in the area despite the high number of checkpoints mounted by policemen.
The eyewitness therefore called on the Commissioner of Police to investigate the officers at the check points in all the communities along the axis.
The identity of the passengers in the hijacked bus are not yet known or made available at the time of filling this report.
However, our source called for urgent intervention for the speedy rescue of the victims.
The Rivers State Police command is yet to confirm the incident. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Nnamdi Omoni, said he has not been informed of any such development by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO of Ikwerre Local Government area of Rivers State.
A close relation to one of the passengers who was in the bus hijacked two weeks ago confided to our correspondent that a ransom of N1million was paid to secure freem for his family member.