Suspected kidnappers have reportedly amputated the hands of three individuals they held captive before setting them free in Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State.
According to Daily Trust, one of the victims, identified as Lanlege Adewale from Ogbe, a town near Egbe in the Yagba region, was kidnapped on Saturday. Shockingly, his captors severed his hand without requesting any ransom before letting him go.
Two other individuals, including a driver and an unidentified man, are said to be in critical condition at a hospital in Egbe, following a similar ordeal.
Local sources disclosed that Adewale was among five passengers abducted on Saturday after their vehicle was waylaid between Egbe and Ikoro.
The attackers, dressed in military uniforms and armed with AK-47 rifles, intercepted the car and forcefully led the occupants, two men and three women, into a dense forest that spans the borders of Kogi, Kwara, and Ekiti states.
“They were ambushed and taken away on standby motorcycles,” a local resident, Olaoye Adeola from Egbe, explained. He confirmed that the assailants transported the victims into the forest that connects the three states.
A relative of Adewale, who requested anonymity, revealed that his hand was hacked off in the bush before he was released.
The family is still baffled by how he survived the ordeal, bleeding profusely for hours without medical aid.
Another source confirmed that one unidentified victim is currently battling for his life at a medical facility in Egbe after being found with his hands severed.
Similarly, a driver who suffered the same fate weeks earlier remains hospitalized in critical condition.
“The people in Yagba are now gripped by fear due to this gruesome trend introduced by these criminals,” said Babajide, a concerned resident of Egbe.
