Fear has gripped Bomadi Local Government Area of Delta State following the abduction of a senior army officer, identified as Lt Colonel Josiah, by heavily armed gunmen.
The officer was reportedly kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday after attending a marriage ceremony in Kpakiama, a community neighboring Bomadi, where he later retired to his lodge.
According to eyewitness accounts, the assailants stormed the lodge between 2:00am and 2:30am, ransacking rooms, seizing mobile phones from lodgers, and eventually dragging the officer outside before whisking him away in a getaway vehicle.
Shots were fired during the operation, and bloodstains were later found at the scene.
“The kidnappers came heavily armed, searched every room, seized lodgers’ phones, and forced the officer out at gunpoint.
They fired a shot before fleeing with him in their vehicle,” a source disclosed.
Security sources further confirmed that the abandoned vehicle used in the operation was later discovered at Tuomo community along the Tuomo-Ogbobagbene-Tamigbe-Torugbene-Ojobo road, and has since been recovered by the military Joint Task Force (JTF) stationed in Bomadi.
The brazen attack has sparked heightened military patrols across Bomadi and adjoining communities as residents remain gripped by fear.
As of press time, efforts to reach the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Edafe Bright, for his reaction proved abortive.
Credit: Vanguard newspaper except headline
