BY: News Peddlers
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Bandits burn an Army van, block the Enugu-P'Harcourt highway, and kidnap a large number of travelers.
Perpetrators have moved near the Imo border with , Commissioner.
Numerous travelers were allegedly kidnapped over the weekend by suspect herdsmen who blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway between the Leru junction and the Ihube axis.
According to reports, the about 30 gunmen kidnapped all the passengers from three buses.
According to reports, the highly armed bandits ambushed a group of soldiers who were dispatched to the area in response to a distress call.
After allegedly setting the military van on fire and injuring two troops, they are said to have herded the passengers of three buses they had kidnapped into the nearby bush.
The issue, according to a young leader in Umunneochi who spoke with Vanguard yesterday, has increased tension in the neighborhood.
According to him, the bandits blocked the highway on Saturday night while it was raining, which led to traffic jams that extended to the Leru junction because commuters confused the bandits for police officers stationed at the roadblock.
He claimed that when the bandits opened fire on a military van that arrived to save the situation, some of the commuters who had alighted to determine the source of the bottleneck ran to their heels.
He claimed that some persons were shot as they sped away from their cars in search of safety.
Since the kidnapping of the Methodist Church Prelate, Dr. Samuel Uche, and two clerics in his entourage, kidnapping for ransom has taken on a nightmare dimension in the area.
Criminals have moved closer to the border with Imo, says Commissioner.
Eze Chikamnayo, the Secretary of the Umunneochi Security Committee, who is also the Commissioner for Information in Abia State and was recently appointed by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to address the grave security issues in the region, said there had been an abduction over the weekend.
He pleaded for additional time to be able to provide exact information on the number of casualties, however, and claimed the incident happened on the Imo State side of the freeway.
It occurred on the expressway between Ihube and Umunneochi, he said. There has been a significant decrease in these incidences in Umunneochi itself, but they have moved to the border between Umunneochi and Imo State.
But the Umunneochi Security Committee put in a lot of effort. Checkpoints have been set up, our vigilante force has been increased, and we may have deterred them. The fact that they have moved further away from Umunneochi LGA and toward the express, in my opinion, is a success for us. They are precisely at Ihube, which marks the border between Abia and Imo.
The Army's public relations officer for the 14 Brigade Ohafia, Lt. Innocent Omale, claimed he was in a meeting when he was approached, therefore attempts to elicit a reaction from him were futile.