By Abisola Oluremi
Three suspects in connection with Wednesday kidnapping at the headquarters of the Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria, Ibadan, have been arrested.
The Police Public Relations Officer of Oyo State Police Command, DSP Olayinka Ayanlade, in a statement, says security operatives engaged the suspected kidnappers and successfully rescued two male victims who are members of the Ogun State Chapter of the Cocoa Farmers Association of Nigeria.
The incident had earlier prompted a swift joint response by operatives of the Police, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, vigilante groups, and the Amotekun Corps.
The victims were reportedly abducted by armed men while at the CRIN nursery site to submit annual cocoa seedling collections for the 2026 planting season.
DSP Ayanlade explained that efforts were ongoing to rescue other victims as security operatives have intensified bush combing operations in pursuit of the fleeing suspects.
Meanwhile, one of the rescued victims, a former Chairman of the association whose name was withheld, recounted that they had just left the cocoa nursery section in their bus when they heard gunshots.
He said before the driver could reverse, the kidnappers surrounded the bus, ordered them to alight, and marched them into the bush.
The elderly man explained that after trekking for about forty minutes, the abductors noticed he was slowing them down, and he was released.
Edited by Titilayo Kupoliyi
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