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A yet-to-be-identified couple have been kidnapped at Uso community, in the Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State.

The victims were said to be travelling with their three children to Akure, the state capital, from the eastern part of the country where they had gone for Christmas, when the hoodlums stopped and whisked them away.

The three children were reportedly left behind at Uso.

A source said the gunmen attacked the couple, who were travelling in a Lexus saloon car, with the number plate, KTU 488 GA, and dragged them into a forest while their underage children watched.

The source said, “The car of the couple had a minor accident on the Akure-Owo Expressway. As they were trying to fix it, the bandits got out of the bush and kidnapped them; they left their children. It was later the children were handed over to the police.”

Similarly, a resident of Uso community, Olatunbosun Johnson, was kidnapped on a farm within the community on Sunday.

A source said Johnson, who went with four other persons to the farm, was abducted along with a Hausa man whom he hired for menial jobs on the farm, as others escaped.

He disclosed that the incident was reported to the police, while a team of Amotekun corps, police and the military, combed the forest in the area.

While searching, one Muhammed Aliu was reportedly arrested in the bush by security operatives.

He said, “The kidnappers demanded N5m from the family, but they made a U-turn on Tuesday after the family told them that the N5m was ready; they increased it to N10m.

“We pleaded with them, but they remained adamant and threatened to kill the young man if the family failed to produce the N10m within 24 hours.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, who confirmed the incident, said men of the state police command and other sister agencies had been combing the forest to rescue Johnson and the couple.