The Ondo State Police Command has begun an operation to rescue the passengers of the GUO Transport Company who were allegedly abducted by some gunmen along the Ikare-Akoko Road of the Akure Expressway on Friday.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Ibukun Odunlami, disclosed this in a telephone interview on Monday.
The travellers were said to be shuttling from Lagos en route to Abuja when their bus was allegedly attacked by the gunmen.
GUO Transport had, in a statement shared on its official Facebook page, on Sunday, confirmed that the driver of the bus was shot dead, adding that other passengers, except a three-year-old child, were kidnapped along the corridor.
The statement partly said, “GUO Transport Co. wishes to use this medium to confirm that there was a bandit attack on one of our buses en route to Abuja from Lagos.
“The unfortunate incident occurred at about 3:15 p.m. on Friday, February 9, 2024. Along the Ikare-Akoko area of the Akure Expressway, the kidnappers ambushed and attacked oncoming vehicles, among which was one of the Hiace buses from Lagos with passengers onboard.
The command spokesperson, Odunlami, said the police had already begun work on the rescue, saying that details would not be disclosed until they had ended their operation.
She said, “We are already on it. I’m sure you know we can’t keep giving updates until we are through. It is an operational thing. We can’t be talking about it until we are done.”
When further probed as to whether the alleged kidnappers had reached out to the family or the police for ransom, she insisted that information about the matter would be made public immediately after the command had finished its investigation.
“Like I said, we don’t want to reveal what we are currently doing until we are through. I already told you it’s an operational thing. It is not something we will be discussing in public. When we get to the root of it. Of course, we will get back to the media,” Odunlami stressed.
