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Twenty young people abducted in south-east Nigeria last week have been rescued, police said, according to Reuters.
The graduates were kidnapped on 1 October while travelling to take part in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a compulsory one-year community service programme for most Nigerian university graduates.
Police spokesman Ani Iniedu said on Wednesday that the group was found at Amakohia Ubi in Imo State following a sustained search-and-rescue operation involving police and other security agencies. The graduates are being cared for and have been taken for medical evaluations.
Security forces carried out intelligence-led searches of forests and suspected hideouts, Iniedu said. He did not say whether a ransom had been paid or whether anyone had been arrested.
The group had been travelling in two buses from Ibadan, in south-western Oyo State, to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen attacked them on a major highway.
The abduction has renewed concerns about insecurity and kidnappings on roads in south-east Nigeria. Before the graduates were released, the father of one of them, Omotosho Adewale, told the BBC that the kidnappers had demanded 50 million naira ($37,680; £28,440), an amount he said he could not afford.
“There's no peace of mind. I've not eaten in three days,” Adewale said through tears.
Kidnapping for ransom is a major security problem in Nigeria, involving criminal gangs and armed groups. Authorities have not disclosed the attackers’ identities.
