Social | 18 Passengers Bus kidnapped along PH-Owerri Road
18 Passengers Bus kidnapped along PH-Owerri Road
Suspected kidnappers have hijacked a fully loaded commercial bus conveying 18 passengers along Port Harcourt-Owerri road at Omurele community in Ikwerre Local Council of Rivers State.
It was learnt that a commercial bus driver identified as Emeka, popularly called Car Wash, who plies the route was said to be returning from Owerri to Port Harcourt with 18 passengers, and his conductor when they were ambushed at gunpoint by the hoodlums on Wednesday night. Another commercial driver who plies the same route and was driving behind the victims explained that the kidnappers shot the driver in the leg. He added that the kidnappers abandoned the driver in the pool of his blood as they diverted the passengers onboard into a nearby forest.
The eyewitness, who gave his name as Dan Jumbo said the victim was immediately rushed to the hospital for medical attention while his vehicle was still abandoned within the pipeline area along the Omurele-Elele axis of Port Harcourt-Owerri road, adding that the matter has been reported to Elele Division. He said: “There is this 18-seater bus coming from Owerri and getting to Omerelu, the pipeline area, some men suspected to be kidnappers came out from the nearby bush and shot the driver in his leg, leaving him unconscious while they took other passengers into the bush. The armed men left the bus and took 18 passengers, including the bus conductor and left the driver because he could not walk. “They took them to the forest that leads to Umudioga on the right side of the road if you are coming from Owerri.” MEANWHILE, the spokesperson for Rivers State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, promised to reach out after confirming the incident, but she was yet to do so at press time.
