An unspecified number of passengers were Wednesday morning abducted and some of them reportedly shot by criminals operating at Ezinnachi/Okigwe axis of the Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway.

The incident, according to some passengers, occurred between 9:00 and 10:00 am as the gunmen blocked the highway and operated unchallenged.

One of the passengers who left Unuahia a few minutes before the incident said the vehicle conveying them almost ran into the gunmen before the driver suddenly "did a U-turn".

"We escaped by divine grace. They stationed close to the hospital under construction after Ezinnachi before Okigwe. They shot some people and some vehicles were parked there. We don't know the exact number of victims. Every vehicle is turning and running back to either Okigwe or Umuahia," one of the passengers said.

At the time of filing this report, it was not yet clear if security operatives in Imo State had arrived at the scene.

The axis (between Okigwe and Ezinnachi) of late has become a hotbed.

It was observed, however, that about two security checkpoints around the area between Ezinnachi junction and Okigwe junction had been dismantled.

A new security checkpoint has been mounted a few metres after the Okigwe Roundabout, right at a busy area, leaving a large uninhabited stretch of the dual-carriage highway unpoliced.

Details later....