Scores of passengers were reportedly abducted, weekend, by terrorists suspected to be bandits, who blocked the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway between Leru junction and Ihube axis.
This is coming shortly after engaging the Nigerian Army in a fierce gun battle near Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Thursday night, July 28.
It was gathered that the gunmen, numbering about 30, abducted the entire occupants of three buses.
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The bandits said to be heavily armed, were said to have attacked a team of soldiers drafted to the scene following a distress call.
A youth leader in Umunneochi, who spoke with Vanguard, Sunday, July 31, 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.
Abia State Commissioner for Information, Eze Chikamnayo, who also doubles as the Secretary of Umunneochi Security Committee, recently inaugurated by Governor Okezie Ikpeazu to tackle the menacing security challenges in the area, also confirmed that there was an abduction in the area last weekend.