Kidnappers have abducted 18 passengers along the Benin-Akure highway, near Obarenren village, Ovia North East Local Government Area of Edo State.
The kidnappers were said to have fired sporadically before taking their victims into the bush.
Edo State Police Command’s Public Relations Officer, Eno Ikoedem, confirmed the incident in Benin on Monday.
Ikoedem, while stating that a joint security operation had launched a manhunt for the abductors, added that a “massive bush combing led to the rescue of 11 victims.
The PPRO, who said efforts were on to rescue other victims, noted: “The incident happened last Saturday. The passengers were in an 18-seater Big Joe bus. We have been combing the bush in collaboration with the Nigerian Army.
“No arrest has been made yet.”
In other news, operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Niger State Police Command have arraigned eight suspected members of a child-trafficking syndicate before Minna Chief Magistrate Court I for allegedly trafficking and trading in children.
The suspects were arrested by the squad led by its head, DSP Ahmed Sa’idu, and subsequently charged before the court.
According to the police, the suspects were apprehended in Nasarawa State while in possession of children allegedly stolen from various parts of Niger State.
Those arraigned are Leo Ugochukwu, Ngozi Ugochukwu, Henrietta Obiako, Rosemary Ogbulogo, Chiroma Onyaja, Vincent Emmanuel, Joy Ndife, and Olusegun Isaiah, all residents of Nyanya in the Federal Capital Territory and parts of Nasarawa State.
They were charged with eight counts, including criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, concealing or keeping kidnapped persons, dealing in the sale of human beings, child stealing, trafficking in persons, indecent treatment of children, wrongful confinement, and wrongful confinement in secret.
The charges, according to the Police First Information Report (FIR) marked MMC/CMC/74/25 and made available to the court, are punishable under Sections 60(2)(a)(1), 211, 238, and 239 of the Niger State Penal Code Law.
The police prosecutor, Inspector Aliyu Yakub Kuta, told the court that on November 5, 2025, at about 3:00 pm, one Victoria Ebunoha of Loko, Karu Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, was arrested at Dikko Junction while in possession of three male children suspected to have been stolen.
“During police interrogation, she confessed to stealing the children from Lambata in Gurara Local Government Area of Niger State and was heading to Nyanya in the FCT to sell them,” the prosecutor said.
He added that further interrogation revealed that she had stolen seven other children from their parents, including Mohammed Bala, Danlami Zhami, and Bello Usman, among others, in the Lambata and Sabon Wuse areas.
