By Egufe Yafugborhi & Chioma Onuegbu

UYO – POLICE in Akwa Ibom state has confirmed gunmen abducted a driver and 18 passengers along the Azumini boundary between Akwa Ibom and Abia states.

Akwa Ibom State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Timfon John, said the police are still monitoring the situation over the incident said to have occurred Wednesday last week.

“That incident happened along the Azumini axis of the road after Etim Ekpo Local Government Area. All I can say is that the Police is still monitoring the situation now”, the PPRO stated.

Community sources say the abduction involved an Akwa Ibom Transport Company (AKTC) bus that loaded the passengers from Uyo terminal on a Port Harcourt, Rivers state-bound journey when they were intercepted at Azumini.

An eyewitness who pleaded anonymity said the gunmen shot in the air to stop the bus driver as other gang members appeared from the bush and joined in the abduction.

“The driver was first to come down. Other passengers were ordered to follow immediately. The kidnappers moved all of them into the bush, their whereabouts not known till now”, he narrated.