Nigerian Air Force, NAF Special Forces on Wednesday, 12 January 2022, rescued 26 kidnapped victims while on a fighting patrol along Birnin Gwari-Kaduna Road.
According to the statement released on Wednesday by the Director of Public Relations and Information, Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, stated that the rescue
operation by the NAF Special Forces occurred when they came across 5 abandoned vehicles with their doors ajar near Anguwar Yako, an indication of forced removal or evacuation and likely kidnap scene.
Acting on instincts, the NAF Special Forces began exploiting the general scene of the abduction and extended for about 3 kilometres radius well into the bushes while clearing the general area.
Upon sighting the SF, about 3 kidnapped escapees suddenly came out from the bushes. A further search by the SF led to the discovery of 4 different groups of victims hiding in the bushes.
After a thorough search further into the hinterland, a total of 26 victims were rescued.
On interrogation, the victims who were travelling from Birnin Gwari to various locations including Kaduna, Minna and Kano, revealed that while enroute, large number of bandits in 3 groups suddenly appeared from the bushes from 3 different directions along the route and surrounded their vehicles. However, on sighting the SF, the kidnappers fled into the bushes with a handful of the victims while the other majority took cover and hid in the bushes until they sighted the SF.
The NAF SF have extended their operations within the area with the hope of rescuing the remaining kidnapped victims while those rescued have since been moved to the 461 NAF Hospital Kaduna for thorough medical examination.