When I first sighted them, I thought they were policemen because one of them was holding a gun in the right hand and then I saw another one on the left carrying a cutlass
Gunmen have attacked a family travelling to Enugu State from Lagos State to bury a dead family member, kidnapping the younger brother of the deceased who was in the ambulance.
According to Vanguard, the family, whose name could be ascertained as at the time of filing this report, was attacked while the ambulance was badly damaged.
It was gathered on Sunday that the incident happened along the Benin bypass near Ahor, an area that has become notorious for kidnapping in the past few days.
Narrating the incident, the driver of the ambulance marked Lagos KRD782GO, who gave his name as Salami Orijiwa, said they left Lagos as early as 6 am on Saturday to make the journey early to Enugu.
“I carried a corpse in the ambulance and we were coming from Lagos and going to Enugu to bury him and the younger brother of the deceased was sitting with me at the front of the vehicle.
“When I first sighted them, I thought they were policemen because one of them was holding a gun in the right hand and then I saw another one on the left carrying a cutlass. At that point, I thought they were thieves and then suddenly I saw another person in front who pointed a gun at us and shot, I quickly bent down inside the vehicle and that was how I lost control and veered into the bush and fell into a ditch.
“The bullet hit the vehicle behind me and the driver died on the spot.”
Vanguard yesterday gathered that the family was still negotiating with the abductors said to be demanding a ransom of N5 million for the release of the victim.