By Olayemi Esan
Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Special Forces (SF) on Wednesday, rescued 26 kidnapped victims while on a fighting patrol along Birnin Gwari-Kaduna Road.
Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet made this known in a statement that the rescue operation occurred when the Special Forces came across 5 abandoned vehicles with their doors ajar near Anguwar Yako, an indication of forced removal or evacuation and likely kidnap scene.
Gabkwet noted that, Acting on instincts, the Special Forces began exploiting the general scene of the abduction and extended for about 3 kilometres radius well into the bushes while clearing the general area.
He said, upon sighting the Special Forces, about 3 kidnapped escapees suddenly came out from the bushes. Further search by the SF led to the discovery of 4 different groups of victims hiding in the bushes. After a thorough search further into the hinterland, a total of 26 victims were rescued.
"On interrogation, the victims who were traveling from Birnin Gwari to various locations including Kaduna, Minna and Kano, revealed that while enroute, large number of bandits in 3 groups suddenly appeared from the bushes from 3 different directions along the route and surrounded their vehicles", he said.
However, on sighting the Special Forces, the kidnappers fled into the bushes with a handful of the victims while the other majority took cover and hid in the bushes until they sighted the Special Forces.
The NAF Special Forces have extended their operations within the area with the hope of rescuing the remaining kidnapped victims while those rescued have since been moved to the 461 NAF Hospital Kaduna for thorough medical examination.
