The inspector-general of police, IGP Kayode Egbetokun, yesterday received the 20 medical students abducted in Benue State on their way to Enugu State for a church event.
The IGP, while receiving the students, said seven other innocent victims were also rescued in the process of rescuing these students.
He also said the leader of the kidnap gang was killed during the operations while two others were apprehended.
The IGP said, while appreciating the National Security Adviser (NSA), the other security operatives, and local vigilante groups, urged Nigerians always to have faith in the police whenever problems like this occur as no ransom was paid for the rescue of these people.
The IGP further handed over the students to the universities of Maiduguri and Jos.
Over the weekend, the students and others were rescued and were immediately moved to Abuja for proper medical attention.
The 20 students from the University of Maiduguri and the University of Jos who were abducted in Benue State last Thursday were rescued on Friday, April 23, 2024.
The source also said the joint security operatives from the Nigeria Police Force (NFP), the Department of State Services (DSS), and the military who participated in the rescue operations were mandated to move the rescued students to an undisclosed hospital in Abuja, where they would be adequately taken care of.
They were rescued at Ajide forest in Ukwonyo council ward, Ado LGA of Benue State. The shared forest is between Ado and Okpokwu LGAs of Benue State.
Before this, the abductors of the medical students who were en route to Enugu State last Thursday had rejected the N20 million ransom allegedly raised by the Catholic community in Nigeria.
The president of the Community of Tiv Students at the University of Maiduguri, Prince Tihi Maxwell, whose two members were among the abducted students, disclosed this in Maiduguri.
