Gunmen on Monday morning waylaid road users along Ayetoro Ekiti-Otun Ekiti Road and abducted no fewer than four persons before fleeing into the forest.

Sources said two buses conveying passengers from the Otun Ekiti end of the road were attacked by the gunmen, leading to the abduction of about four passengers, while other travellers escaped.

A source said that one of those who escaped told him that the gunmen took away four passengers from the two buses.

Another, who said he got the information when the hunters were informed of the incident, said, “The hunters were called that some kidnappers were operating along Ayetoro-Otun Road.

“But before they got there, the gunmen had piloted two buses into the bush. At that point, we cannot say the number of people taken into the forest, but the buses were there.

“I advised the hunters and the security agents who arrived the scene later that the kidnappers would have gone towards the Otun end and that they would not have gone too far by that time.

“Definitely, they were the ones who operated along Ayetoro-Ewu Road on Sunday evening. The Sunday operation was not successful and that was why they waited around to carry out this one,” the source said.

According to him, the kidnappers, on realising that they had missed their target on Sunday evening, resorted to attacking commercial motorcycle riders and had shot endlessly into the air to scare people.

The source said, “An okada rider was stopped at gunpoint and they took all his valuables, while another okada operator escaped into the bush. The kidnappers fled when they noticed that the other okada rider had escaped.”

Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti State Command, Sunday Abutu, who confirmed the kidnap incident, said, “We heard the information and we have deployed our personnel there.

“There was a kidnap incident this morning. I cannot confirm yet the number of persons abducted. It began on Sunday evening when some suspected robbers attacked a man who the Police thereafter rescued.

“However, this morning, we learnt that the suspects were the ones who abducted some road users. The Police are on their trail,” the PPRO said.

The Punch