Gunmen kidnap driver, ten passengers in Benue

Gunmen have abducted a driver and ten of his passengers travelling by commercial vehicle from Jos, Plateau State, to Onitsha, Anambra State.

A source close to the transport company which owned the bus in Jos revealed that the bus left Jos on Friday at about 7:00 am with ten passengers, including the driver, but ran into the gunmen at Eke highway in Benue State at about 4:00 pm.

It was further learnt that gunmen led the passengers into the bush and forced them to surrender their phones, while the driver was mercilessly beaten and also abducted by the gunmen.

It was gathered that the driver of the vehicle was attacked on a bad section of the highway while attempting to accelerate and zoom out of the danger zone was impossible due to the bad road.

The source further revealed that the kidnappers contacted the transport company in Jos on Saturday for a ransom of N5 million per passenger and threatened to kill them if the money was not paid before Monday.

He further added that apart from Saturday’s phone call with the kidnappers, they had not called again but resorted to calling relatives of the passengers in their custody.

It was further learnt that relatives and parents of the abductors held a meeting at the premises of the transport company in Jos on Monday where they agreed to take a collective decision concerning the ransom and negotiation instead of an individualistic approach.

Attempts to reach the manager of the company simply identified as Emmanuel in Jos proved abortive. Several phone calls put across to him were neither answered nor returned.

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