Scores of passengers abducted as bandits block Enugu-Port Harcourt highway, burn Army van

Scores of passengers have been reportedly abducted by kidnappers suspected to be herdsmen, who blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway between Leru junction and Ihube axis.

According to Vanguard, gunmen, numbering about 30, abducted the entire occupants of three buses.

The bandits said to be heavily armed were said to have attacked a team of soldiers drafted to the scene following a distress call.

They reportedly set the military van on fire and wounded two soldiers before herding all occupants of three buses they abducted into the bush.

A youth leader in Umunneochi, who spoke with Vanguard, on Monday, said the situation had heightened anxiety in the area.

He said the bandits took advantage of the evening rain on Saturday to block the highway, causing gridlock that stretched to Leru junction as commuters mistook them for policemen on the roadblock.

According to him, some of the commuters who had alighted to verify the cause of the gridlock took to their heels when the bandits opened fire on a military van that came to save the situation.

He said some people sustained bullet wounds as motorists abandoned their vehicles and scampered for safety.

Kidnapping for ransom has assumed a nightmarish dimension around the vicinity since after the abduction of the Prelate of Methodist Church, Dr Samuel Uche, and two clerics on his entourage.