Troops of 143 Battalion of the Nigerian Army have rescued no fewer than nine kidnap victims across various locations in Imo and Abia states.

Their operation led to the rescue of 3 persons who were kidnapped along the Enugu - Port Harcourt Expressway, Leru - Ndiawa Road and Ihube - Okigwe road on Sunday 26 March 2023, arrest of suspects and recovery of locally made pistol.

Interrogation of one of the suspects revealed the locations of some likely areas being used to hold the abducted victims. Accordingly, troops commenced search and rescue operations in the general area of Ndiawa, Agueze and Gariki, all In Ummuneochi LGA of Abia State.

Follow-up offensive operations yielded positive results on Wednesday 29 March 2023, when troops located and engaged the kidnappers at one of the identified locations between the Ndiawa forest mountain range and Giriki. The kidnappers were forced to abandon their victims, after which troops rescued 9 victims who were earlier abducted. The rescued victims include:

Mr Samuel Offor aged 39

Mr Mbah Ifeanyi aged 26

Mr Courage Chukwuemeka aged 34

Mr Barnabas Kalu aged 41

Mr Amah Andrew Moses aged 42

Mr Celestine Oledi aged 53

Mr Chukwudi Ndubueze aged 40 and

Mr Adejoh Ali aged 34

The rescued victims were handed over to the Divisional Police Station at ISUOCHI, after which they were subsequently released. Notably, the victims contacted their family members to notify them of their rescue and inform them not to pay any ransom to their abductors.

The Commander 14 Brigade Nigerian Army, Brigadier General Adegoke Adetuyi, has warned that the clearance operations would continue in the days ahead in all parts of Abia State, in order to apprehend or neutralize the kidnappers and other criminal elements that may want to resuscitate criminalities in the Brigade Area of Responsibility.