The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Bosso, has said operatives have located the camp where abducted prospective National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members are being held, but explosives have been planted at the site.

The 20 people initially abducted were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked two buses in the Umunoha area of Imo State on Thursday.

Police subsequently rescued some of the victims, while security operatives continued efforts to locate and free those still being held.

Bosso, in an interview on Saturday, said police operatives had tracked the group they were pursuing to a location in the bush but could not advance into the camp because intelligence indicated that it had been mined with explosives.

“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 coordinates showed us where they are,” he said.

The commissioner said drone surveillance had helped operatives pinpoint the location, but the presence of improvised explosive devices posed an obstacle to the rescue operation.

“The drone actually showed us exactly their location. But our predicament is that with the intel we have, the IEDs, the camp is mined with IEDs,” Bosso said.

He said police were deploying vehicles, bulldozers, and armoured personnel carriers to support efforts to reach the victims and bring them out safely.

“We are moving with bulldozers and APCs,” he said, adding that the aim was to rescue the victims unhurt.

The Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Umar Nadada, who was deployed to Imo State by Inspector-General of Police Olatunji Disu to coordinate the rescue operations, also assured families that security agencies were working to secure the victims’ safe release and urged them to cooperate with operatives.

“Definitely, let them be rest assured that they are going to be rescued safely. They should cooperate with us. I know it’s difficult, particularly for the parents of the victims,” Nadada said.

“I know what they are feeling, but they should work with the security agencies.”

The commissioner said an investigation had commenced but declined to identify those responsible beyond describing them as unknown gunmen.

“The investigation has commenced. We don’t want to pre-empt anything,” he said.

DIG Nadada added that the Inspector-General of Police had directed the deployment of additional operational assets and tactical teams to reinforce personnel already on the ground.

“So definitely we are working hard to ensure that all those victims are rescued,” he said.

Meanwhile, families of the victims have been receiving ransom demands.

The reported ransom demands have deepened the anxiety of relatives of the missing graduates.

Some of the parents who spoke to Channels Television appealed to the state and Federal Government to come to their aid and secure the release of their children.

Some parents, in interviews with Channels Television, said they were helpless in the face of the demands being made by the kidnappers. They also expressed concern about the safety of their children.

Olawale Olaleke said his son was one of those posted to Abia State to serve but was kidnapped before he reached his destination.

Another parent, Olawale Olalere, narrated his ordeal with tears in his eyes, calling on Governor Seyi Makinde and President Bola Tinubu to come to their rescue.

He said, “The vehicle took off from Samonda and slept in Onitsha, from where they took off the following morning, and just as they got to Owerri in Imo State, we heard they had been kidnapped.

“We are here to appeal to the government to come to our rescue. This morning, when they confirmed that they have been kidnapped, they’re already demanding N50 million naira on each victim.”

Oladosu said her daughter, Greatness, was travelling to Uyo when she was abducted.

According to Oladosu, the kidnappers briefly contacted the family through her daughter’s phone and allowed them to see Greatness and other victims during a video call.

She said the victims were seen sitting on the ground in the bush and crying.

“Where will petty traders get N50 million? They are just going to serve Nigeria; why this punishment?” she said.

Another victim’s mother, Alimotu Akanke, said her son, Akande Farouq, who was posted to Abia State, managed to send a brief message to his family before his phone went off.

Farouq reportedly sent the word “Kidnappers!” to the family’s WhatsApp group before communication was lost.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the victims have begun seeking help online.

As families await news of the victims, friends and associates of some of the abducted graduates have launched social media campaigns calling for assistance and their safe release.

A manifest from the two buses reportedly listed 30 passengers, 15 in each bus, although the number of people actually abducted and the identities of those rescued remained subject to clarification, as security agents had yet to release the transport company’s manifest.