Suspected Herdsmen Kidnap Former DSS Officer In Benue

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Wednesday abducted a retired officer of the Department of State Services, (DSS), Mr. Peter Unogwu, in Benue State.

Unogwu was abducted along Otukpo-Igumale road in Ado local government area of the state and taken to an unknown destination.

Sources said the ex-DSS officer ran into his abductors while returning from Otukpo where he had gone for his routine business.

Unogwu, who retired from active service several years ago, relocated to Igumale his home town and established a hotel from where he eked out a living.

One of the sources said: “He has been living in Igumale and running his hotel business for a long time now. And just yesterday (Wednesday) we learnt that he was returning from Otukpo where he had gone for his routine business when he ran into the suspected armed herdsmen who have been besieging our communities with thousands of cattle recently.

“They reportedly blocked the major road linking Otukpo and Igumale at the time, seeking who to kidnap.

“From what we gathered, the armed men had taken a man hostage and were about whisking him away when Mr. Unogwu arrived at the scene just close to the Local Government Council Secretariat, by the moribund Igumale cement factory.

“At that point, they abandoned their initial victim and abducted Unogwu who they took to an unknown destination and left his car behind.”