Bombs preventing rescue of kidnapped youths, Nigerian police say

Nigerian authorities have uncovered a camp housing 19 young national service recruits, kidnapped by gunmen, but are unable to intervene due to concerns about the site being booby-trapped with explosives. Police Commissioner Audu Bosso revealed that drones were instrumental in locating the camp, where the prospective National Youth Service Corps members were taken following their abduction last week in Imo state's south-east region.

The precise location of the camp remains undisclosed, as does the identity of those responsible for the kidnapping. Omotosho Adewale, whose child is among the abducted, expressed his anguish to the BBC, stating that the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 50 million naira ($37,680; £28,440), an amount his family could not afford.

Adewale, deeply distressed, revealed that he had not eaten in three days and pleaded with the government for assistance. The victims had been en route from Ibadan in the southwest to NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when gunmen ambushed their buses near Umunoha in Imo state. The National Youth Service Corps is a mandatory one-year program for most Nigerian university and polytechnic graduates, during which participants, known as corps members, are deployed to various parts of the country for work, community service, and to promote national unity.