Twenty passengers, including candidates sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), were reportedly kidnapped by sea pirates along the Calabar waterways on Friday.
A naval officer, who confirmed the incident on Sunday, said armed men attacked a passenger ferry travelling from Calabar in Cross River State to Oron in Akwa Ibom State. According to him, the gunmen ambushed the ferry while it was on the water and forced the passengers off at gunpoint.
The exact number of people taken could not be confirmed immediately, but reports suggest about 20 passengers were abducted. Many of those affected were said to be candidates heading to Akwa Ibom State to take the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination.
This incident comes shortly after another major case of abduction in Benue State. The Benue State Police Command arrested seven suspected herdsmen over the kidnapping of passengers, including UTME candidates, from an 18-seater Benue Links bus last Wednesday. The attack happened along the Makurdi–Otukpo highway.
The Benue State Commissioner of Police, Ifeanyi Emenari, said the victims were rescued through a joint operation carried out by several security agencies.
