The Imo State Police Command has successfully identified the location where 19 prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are being held captive. However, a planned rescue operation is currently on hold due to concerns that the area may be rigged with improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Commissioner of Police Audu Garba Bosso provided an update on the situation during a media briefing, revealing that drones were utilized to locate the suspected camp after security operatives tracked the abductors into the bush. Despite confirming the camp's coordinates, Bosso emphasized the need for caution, stating that intelligence reports indicated the area is potentially dangerous due to the presence of IEDs.

"Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush. Yesterday, we were in the bush, we trailed them up to a particular location. But at that point in time, we couldn’t move in to where the coordinate showed us where they are because we ran drones yesterday. And the drone actually showed us exactly their location. But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the IED is—the camp is mined with IEDs," Bosso explained.

The police are preparing to launch a rescue operation equipped with heavy machinery, including bulldozers and armored personnel carriers, to ensure the safe retrieval of the victims. The urgency of the situation has escalated following the abduction of the corps members, who were taken while traveling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states. The attack occurred along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Imo State on Thursday, when gunmen ambushed two buses carrying the prospective corps members.

Isiah Akpan, the Managing Director of Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nigeria Limited, confirmed that 19 passengers were taken into the bush while the drivers managed to escape and alert nearby security personnel. Following the incident, the abductors have reportedly demanded a ransom of N50 million for each of the 19 victims, totaling N950 million. Families of the abducted individuals have been contacted through their relatives' phones, with some even seeing their loved ones during video calls with the captors.

In a previous statement, the Imo State Police Command mentioned that 10 victims had been rescued, although it remains unclear whether these individuals were part of the group that was abducted. The latest developments indicate that security forces are honing in on the location of the remaining victims as they continue their efforts to secure their release safely.