…Passengers allegedly shot, abducted
Our Reporter
Some passengers were allegedly shot and others abducted by armed criminals operating at Ezinnachi/Okigwe axis of the Enugu -Port Harcourt expressway.
The incident occurred Wednesday morning around 10:00am as the criminals blocked the highway and operated unchallenged.
The number and identity of the victims are still sketchy.
A passenger who left Umuahia few minutes before the incident said the vehicle conveying them almost ran into the hoodlums before the driver suddenly “did a U-turn.”
“We escaped by divine grace. They stationed close to the hospital under construction after Ezinnachi before Okigwe. They shot some people and some vehicles were parked there. We don’t know the exact number of victims. Every vehicle is turning and running back to either Okigwe or Umuahia,” one of the passengers said.
Another passenger said soldiers had just arrived at the scene, while the criminals fled on sighting them.
It is not yet clear if any of the hoodlums was apprehended.
The axis (between Okigwe and Ezinnachi) of late, has become a hotbed.
It was observed, however, that about two security checkpoints around the area between Ezinnachi junction and Okigwe junction had been dismantled of late.
A new security checkpoint has been mounted few metres after the Okigwe Roundabout right at a busy area leaving a large uninhabited stretch of the dual -carriage highway unmanned.
Insecurity has remained a major challenge in Okigwe and its environs for some years now with Government doing so little to contain it.
Details later…
