The two girls from Plateau State Polytechnic and a boy who were abducted in a private hostel, housing some students of the institution in Barkin Ladi on Wednesday, January 12, have regained their freedom.
The three kidnapped persons escaped from their abductors before they were picked by security agents at Nding community of the local government area.
Ishaku Takwa, the military information officer of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) had in a statement declared that three students of Plateau State Polytechnic kidnapped on Wednesday, January 12, 2022, have been rescued unharmed by troops of OPSH deployed at Barikin Ladi.
“The troops deployed at Nding Sesut, a remote community in Barikin Ladi, noticed an unusual movement of persons during patrols. Troops immediately conducted a cordon and search in the general area that led to the rescue of the three students at an abandoned poultry farm. The victims have since been united with their families. Manhunt to apprehend the suspects is still ongoing,” the statement read.
In a similar vein a statement from the Plateau State Police Command through its spokesperson, Gabriel Uba said, “The team of Police and STF deployed to rescue the victims kidnapped yesterday at Ban village behind the Plateau State Polytechnic has rescued them today 13/1/2022 at about 1430hrs unhurt and are now with the police. Meanwhile, the effort is still on to arrest other perpetrators of the act.”
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However, this is contrary to the initial claim of the authority of the institution which had denied the two kidnapped girls were their students, only for the authority to later discover that the two girls were students from Plateau State Poly, while the boy was not.
Matthew Dokotri, the public relations officer of Plateau State Polytechnic who had earlier told journalists that the abducted persons were not their students, however, apologized, saying, “we did not get this information at that time. The girls are our students but the boy is not. These have been confirmed.”
According to Dokotri, “The people that abducted them tied them in the bush and fell asleep. Probably they took too many drugs. The people were able to untie the ropes and ran away. They went to the nearby village to report and the people called the Police. That was how the Police picked them up. One of the girls is in the Social Services Department and the other is in the Hospitality and Catering Services. The boy is not our student.”
