Kidnappers struck again in Rivers State on Thursday, waylaying an 18-seater bus and abducting the 19 occupants of the vehicle, including the driver.
It was gathered that the incident happened on Isiokpo-Elele Road in the Ikwerre Local Government Area, about 30 kilometres from Agip Junction in Port Harcourt, where the bus branded, Rivers Mass Transit Company, took off.
Sources explained that the kidnappers, who were 10 in number and heavily armed, blocked the road and forced the bus to stop as soon as it (bus) approached them.
Thursday’s abduction would be the third time in one month that passengers would be waylaid on the road by hoodlums.
It was also learnt that the victims, who were on their way to Owerri, the Imo State capital, were marched into the bush by their captors at about 8.30am.
A driver plying the route, Mr. Martins Aluziwe, said his bus was earlier attacked by the hoodlums, adding that he and the driver, whose bus was intercepted, loaded passengers into their vehicles almost at the same time at Agip and Whimpy junctions before moving out of the park at the same time.
Aluziwe added that soldiers at a checkpoint close to the scene of the incident had moved into the bush to ensure the rescue of the abducted persons.
