No fewer than nine passengers have been rescued by the joint patrol team of the Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) codenamed Amotekun yesterday along Ipetumodu -Ilesha expressway in Osun state.
South West governors had ordered the 24-hour patrol of the joint team across the region to ensure hitch-free Yuletide.
Speaking in Akure, the Chairman of the WNSN and the Ondo state commander of Amotekun, Chief Adetunji Adeleye said the effort was ongoing towards arresting the Kidnappers.
Adeleye “Around 1 am, we got a distress call from one of the families of the kidnap victims that the Kidnappers called, asking for ransom.
” We thereafter moved into action. We were able to track the Kidnappers. The victims were retrieved and some of their valuables were retrieved but the Kidnappers ran away.
“It was along Ipetumodu axis in Osun state and when we got to a village about 10km away from the road, we found out that the den is a regular dump area for Kidnappers because we found so many items which show that it is a permanent place where they keep kidnap victims.
“However, we were able to rescue nine victims and a vehicle. Our men are there in the bush trailing the Kidnappers but our major concern was to rescue the victims.
“Our medical team have been attending to them and after completion, we would take them to their various destinations so they can reunite with their families”
Adeleye said, the move is to further reassure specifically, the people of Ondo and Osun states, that Amotekun would stop at nothing in joining forces with other security agencies at ensuring that criminals are driven away from the states.
Narrating her ordeal, one of the victims, Ife Balogun told newsmen that they were travelling from Lagos to Ekiti state before the unfortunate incident.
Balogun added that their abductors kept them in the forest for several hours before the intervention of the Amotekun corps. End