A police officer and two other mourners have been kidnapped in an ambush by suspected armed herdsmen at Anune community in Gwer West Local Government Area of Benue State.
A source in the area said the victims were abducted Tuesday evening while returning to Makurdi after a burial cerrmony in Naka, Gwer West Local Government headquarters of the state.
The incident came five months after the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Naka and six others were murdered on the road in an ambush by the armed herdsmen.
Confirming the incident, Gwer West LG Chairman, Andrew Ayande, said the incident occurred about 4p.m., “while some mourners were returning from Naka to Makurdi after attending a burial ceremony.
“We lost one prominent person on Monday and the corpse was billed to be taken home for burial on Monday. And on Tuesday, the people came as usual and attacked the vehicle conveying the mourners. They took away some of the victims into the bush but security personnel are on their trail.
“The vehicle they were travelling in before the attacked has since been taken to Naka police station. It is unfortunate that the armed herdsmen are always doing that around Anune.
“Among those they kidnapped was a Police officer and two others. They are already demanding a ransom of N200,000 for the Police officer, N1 million for the woman and N500,000 for one other person.”
Contacted, Benue State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Catherine Anene, said she was yet to receive details of the incident.
Credit: Vanguard
