Gunmen hijack commercial bus, abduct 15 passengers in Rivers

Police dismiss six officers over extortion

Gunmen yesterday abducted 15 passengers in Rivers State when they hijacked a Lagos-bound commercial bus.The incident occurred around 5:38 a.m. in Elibrada community along the east-west road in Emohua Local Council Area.

This is coming some months after three commercial vehicles were hijacked with their passengers and drivers along Elele road, near Port Harcourt.Confirming the crime, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni disclosed that only five passengers and the driver were abducted.

He said: “Five passengers were kidnapped on the East-West yesterday. Three of them have been rescued already and the police have also gone on the trail of the criminals to rescue the remaining two people.

“As soon as possible, they would be released. The Police Commissioner, Zaki Ahmed has made deployment in the area to ensure that they are released unconditionally.”

The abduction forced other vehicles travelling along the route to return to Port Harcourt until movement was restored after some hours.The Guardian leant that the bus, owned by a notable transport company, was riddled with bullets when the gunmen ambushed it.

According to an eyewitness account, the attackers blocked the highway with woods and shot sporadically into the air before abducting the victims. He said no dead body was found in the vehicle after the attackers abandoned it, even though they fired at it directly.

The source further disclosed that the armed bandits moved the victims to an unknown destination at gunpoint.It was further leant that the gunmen had not established contact with the victims’ relations, at the time of filing in this report.

An official of the transport company told journalists that some of its personnel had gone to visit the scene of the incident.Meanwhile, the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU) of the Nigeria Police yesterday disclosed that six officers were dismissed for extortion in the second quarter of 2017.

The Head of the unit, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abayomi Shogunle released the report in Abuja yesterday.He said: “During the period under review, two traffic wardens in Abuja, four police officers in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State were dismissed, in line with the directive of the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim K. Idris to flush out unethical officers from the NPF.”

He explained that the unit resolved a total of 589 complaints, which represents 90 percent of 657 complaints made against the police from across the country.
Shogunle said Lagos, Rivers, and FCT, Abuja top the states’ ranking with 137, 89 and 82 complaints, while Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina, and Yobe State recorded no complaint from members of the public.