By CHIDI NKWOPARA

OWERRI — Uneasy calm now reigns at Alaude village, Ibeme, in Isiala Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State, following reported resurgence of kidnappers in the area.

Vanguard investigations revealed that an elderly woman, whose name could not be ascertained at press time, was kidnapped by hoodlums in the early hours of yesterday morning.

A villager, who simply identified herself as Nnamdi, told Vanguard that the hoodlums stormed the hapless woman’s family home at about 2.30a.m. and shot severally to scare people.

Nnamdi linked the botched kidnap to stories that some of the woman’s children were wealthy and living abroad.

It was also gathered from another villager, Amarachi, that the frightened woman raised alarm, which attracted other villagers to the scene.

Amarachi revealed that the villagers quickly responded to the village drum, which summoned all able bodied men to their square.

Vanguard gathered that the hoodlums made good their escape, soon after the villagers responded; they were chased by the youths in the village who traced the frightened woman that same night to Ugwu Nkwo Mbaa forest where she was rescued by the youths.

As at 1.15p.m., when Vanguard visited the area yesterday, no fewer than five security patrol vehicles belonging to the police and army were seen stationed close to the forest.

Similarly, the spate of kidnapping has stretched into Umuokie, Umuoparaoma and Umuodom villages at Ibeme.

In these three villages, small babies suckling their mothers, were snatched by hoodlums, thus heightening the level of insecurity in the sleepy rural community.