In their determination to quickly rescue the 14 kidnapped passengers of a commercial bus, men of the Rivers State Police Command have been combing the forest.
Rivers Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Nnamdi Omoni, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), stated yesterday in Port Harcourt, that there would be no hiding place for criminals in the state.
Omoni assured that the 14 passengers would soon be rescued unhurt and unconditionally, with the kidnappers apprehended and prosecuted, to serve as a deterrent to other criminally-minded persons.
Rivers police spokesman also stated that the command was working on vital information, in order to enable the policemen track the criminals and rescue the victims.
The unfortunate passengers were travelling around 4 p.m. on Friday from Port Harcourt to Omoku, the headquarters of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area (ONELGA) of the state on the Port Harcourt International Airport-Elele-Ikiri-Omoku Road, before the gunmen intercepted the bus (of ONELGA Link) and moved them into the forest, with the bus completely burnt.
Criminal activities, especially kidnapping, armed robbery, sea piracy and cultism, have been on the increase in Rivers in the last one year, with the residents groaning over the spate of insecurity across the 23 LGAs of the state, but Governor Nyesom Wike kept insisting that Rivers was safe, with investors trooping into the state.