Kogi security forces have expanded their search for travellers abducted along the Okene–Auchi Road, as police and military teams continue to comb forest corridors towards the Kogi–Edo border after identifying and destroying suspected kidnappers’ hideouts.
The Kogi State Police Command said the search operation, which began immediately after Friday’s abduction, had moved deeper into forest locations around the Okene–Ajaokuta axis, including the Ebiya Forest and adjoining areas. No victim had been rescued at the initial stage of the operation, but security teams were still advancing towards locations identified through intelligence.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Saliu Afusat, said in a statement issued in Lokoja on Sunday that the operation had brought together several police formations and Nigerian Army detachments operating from Forward Operating Bases in the area.
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The deployment includes personnel from the Area Command, Okene, the 77 Police Mobile Force Squadron, Okene, the Okene and Adavi divisions, the Anti-Kidnapping Unit, the Violent Crime Response Unit, and other tactical formations.
Afusat said the Edo State Police Command had also joined the operation through its Anti-Kidnapping Unit and other tactical personnel. Security agencies have strengthened patrols along the Kogi–Edo border to prevent the abductors from escaping through adjoining forest routes.
The search yielded items which the police said were recovered from suspected criminal hideouts. They included foodstuffs, cooking ingredients, an army-pattern jungle hat and a National Identity Card.
The police subsequently destroyed and set fire to the hideouts. It said the action was intended to prevent the locations from being reused by the suspected kidnappers.
According to Afusat, tactical teams continued the operation on Saturday, August 8, moving towards areas of interest along the Ajaokuta and Adoko axes. Nigerian Army and Edo State Police drones were also deployed to provide aerial surveillance and improve intelligence gathering.
The Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, Naziru Bello Kankarofi, has instructed the teams to maintain the operation until the abducted travellers are recovered and those responsible are arrested.
Afusat said, “The safety and recovery of the victims remain the Command’s immediate priority.”
The command appealed to residents around the affected communities to remain vigilant and provide timely information that could assist the rescue operation.
The police also reported that calm had returned to Abugi Kingdom in Lokoja Local Government Area after recent reprisal killings. It said security personnel had been deployed there while the State Criminal Investigation Department pursued investigations aimed at identifying and prosecuting those responsible for the deaths.
