Police say 20 kidnapped Nigerian medical students have been released | Crime News

The students were on their way to a conference in Benue State when they were kidnapped by armed men.

Twenty Nigerian medical students who were kidnapped on their way to a conference have been released more than a week after their abduction, police said.

Armed men arrested the students on August 15 as they traveled to a conference in the Central African state of Benue and later demanded a ransom.

“We confirm the release of our brothers and sisters and some other Nigerians held captive in Ntunkon forest in Benue State on Friday,” Nigerian police spokesman Olumuyiwa Adejobi said on Saturday.

A statement from the state police said it had “confirmed the release of the 20 students from the universities of Maiduguri and Jos”.

The students were released “without paying a ransom.” The group was “rescued tactically and professionally,” said Adejobi.

The country's police chief deployed a “tactical force” in Benue state this week to find the latest victims of a growing wave of kidnappings in Africa's most populous country.

Fortune Olaye, secretary general of the Nigerian Medical Students' Association (NIMSA), confirmed the release to the AFP news agency. “We have spoken to them on the phone. They are safe,” Olaye said.

The students were kidnapped while travelling in a convoy of two buses near the town of Otukpo, less than 150 kilometres from Enugu, where attacks and kidnappings are common.

Armed gangs in northern Nigeria are kidnapping villagers, students and motorists for ransom, but security forces have failed to put an end to the practice.

In Nigeria, thousands of people are kidnapped for ransom every year. However, there are hardly any reliable statistics as many cases go unreported. The number of kidnappings has increased significantly due to the severe economic crisis, which is driving more and more people into crime.

Nigerian consulting firm SBM Intelligence said it recorded 4,777 kidnappings in the country between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's assumption of power in May 2023 and January 2024.