Tony John, Port Harcourt
The Rivers State Police Command said it has recovered two corpses and rescued eight persons from the 18-seater passengers bus that was hijacked, on Wednesday night, by gunmen along Elele-Omarelu in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The state’s Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), confirmed this on Friday to journalists in Port Harcourt, adding that six of the passengers were still missing.
The commercial bus was reportedly travelling from Owerri, Imo State, to Port Harcourt, when the bandits ambushed them and diverted their vehicle to an unknown destination.
Commander of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Monitoring Unit, in the State, Bennett Igwe, disclosed the report to newsmen, in Port Harcourt, on Thursday.
Igwe, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), had assured members of the public that efforts were being intensified by his team to ensure successful and safe rescue of passengers from the abductors.
Similarly, masked gunmen, on Friday, struck again along the same Owerri-Port Harcourt road, by hijacking another 18-seater commercial bus with its occupants and diverted the vehicle into a nearby bush.
This occurred less than 48 hours after a similar operation was carried out by gunmen in the area.
Saturday Sun gathered that the bus had 18 passengers onboard including the driver and was hijacked at gun point around Umuapu-Omerelu axis of the Owerri-Port Harcourt road, which is the boundary between Imo and Rivers States.
One of the drivers, Martins Aluziwe, who plies the route, broke the news of the latest attack in Port Harcourt, saying that the bus loaded at Control Station in Owerri.
Aluziwe said the incident happened around 7:15a.m, adding that the whereabouts of the victims and bus were still unknown.
Police could not confirm the latest incident at the time of filing the report.
