Security agencies have located the suspected hideout where prospective National Youth Service Corps members abducted in Imo State are being held, but a rescue operation has been delayed over fears that the camp may have been planted with improvised explosive devices.

The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Audu Garba Bosso, disclosed the development on Saturday while giving an update on the ongoing search-and-rescue operation.

Bosso said security operatives had trailed the suspected kidnappers into the bush before deploying drones to establish the location of their camp. The surveillance operation provided coordinates showing the suspected hideout, but security personnel could not immediately advance because of intelligence indicating that the area had been mined with IEDs.

The commissioner said the security agencies were preparing to deploy heavy equipment, including bulldozers and armoured personnel carriers, to gain access to the area and minimise the risk to both the operatives and the abducted victims.

“Any moment, we’ll still move into the bush,” Bosso said, explaining that the operation was being handled cautiously because of the suspected explosives around the camp.

The development followed the abduction of passengers travelling in two buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Mbaitoli Local Government Area, Imo State, on Thursday, October 1.

The buses were conveying prospective corps members from Ibadan, Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when suspected gunmen attacked them.

The Imo State Police Command initially reported that 10 victims had been rescued following the attack. The Defence Headquarters later said 20 passengers had been abducted and that 10 people, including eight prospective corps members, were rescued.

However, the families of the affected prospective corps members have disputed the account that 10 passengers were rescued. According to the parents, some passengers escaped from the attackers by fleeing into the bush, while 20 prospective corps members remained in captivity as of Saturday. The conflicting accounts have made it difficult to establish the exact number of victims still being held.

The families have also said the abductors demanded a ransom of N1bn, reportedly asking for N50m for each of 20 prospective corps members. They were said to have been given 24 hours to raise the money.

Meanwhile, security agencies have intensified efforts to secure the release of the victims. The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, to Imo to strengthen and coordinate the rescue operation.

The operation involves the police, military and other security agencies, with efforts focused on reaching the suspected camp without putting the lives of the abducted passengers or rescue personnel at unnecessary risk.