Nigeria: 20 kidnapped graduates rescued after week-long search

Twenty graduates abducted while travelling to begin Nigeria's national youth service have been found alive after a week-long search, authorities say. The group was located in Imo State on Wednesday, days after armed men seized them while they were travelling to orientation camps in south-eastern Nigeria. Police spokesman Ani Iniedu said the graduates were found at Amakohia Ubi following an operation involving police, the military and other security agencies. He said the search had focused on forests and locations believed to be used as hideouts by criminal groups. The young people are now in police care and have been taken for medical examinations, Mr Iniedu said. It is not clear whether a ransom was paid to secure their release. Police have also not said whether anyone has been detained over the abduction, but said efforts were under way to track down those responsible. The graduates were travelling in two buses from Ibadan, in Oyo State, on 1 October when gunmen attacked them on their way to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation centres in Abia and Akwa Ibom states. The NYSC is a compulsory one-year programme for most Nigerian university graduates. Participants are sent to states across the country to take part in community service and other activities. The case has highlighted continuing concerns about kidnapping along major routes in south-eastern Nigeria, where armed groups and criminal gangs have carried out attacks and abductions. Police had previously said they had located the site where the graduates were being held, but that rescuers could not enter because explosives had reportedly been planted in the area. One relative said the abductors had demanded 50m naira ($37,680; £28,440) for the release of one of the graduates. Omotosho Adewale, whose son was among those taken, told the BBC before the rescue that he had been unable to raise the money. "There's no peace of mind. I've not eaten in three days," he said. Kidnapping for ransom remains widespread in Nigeria, despite government efforts to stop the practice. Authorities have outlawed the payment of ransoms in an attempt to make abductions less profitable for criminal groups. Police have yet to identify the attackers behind the latest incident.