20 abducted Nigerian medical students freed

LAGOS: Twenty

Nigerian medical students

kidnapped as they went to a convention have been

freed

more than a week after their abduction,

police

said Saturday.
Gunmen seized the 20 on August 15 as they travelled to a conference in

Benue state

, in the centre of the country, and later demanded a ransom, police said.
State police said in a statement that they had "confirmed the

release

of the 20 students from the University of Maiduguri and University of Jos".

No details were given on how the students were freed but the country's police chief had this week deployed a "tactical squad" in Benue as part of efforts to find the latest victims of a rising wave of abductions in Africa's most populous country.

Fortune Olaye, secretary general of the NIMSA national medical students association, confirmed the release to AFP. "We've spoken to them on the phone. They are safe," Olaye said.
Thousands of people are abducted for ransom in Nigeria each year, though there are few reliable statistics. The Nigerian consultancy, SBM Intelligence, said it had recorded 4,777 kidnappings in the country between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu taking power in May 2023 and January 2024.