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Police in Nigeria’s Abia State dismantled suspected criminal camps in the Umuaku and Nneato forests on Saturday after receiving intelligence about kidnappings in the area, according to the Abia State Police Command. The command’s tactical operatives found the suspects had fled upon their arrival, leaving behind evidence of their activities. A total of 28 human skulls and bones were recovered from the sites, with investigations ongoing to identify the remains and determine how the individuals died.
Abia State Police spokeswoman Maureen Chinaka stated that the raids targeted locations believed to be used by criminal groups. “Upon arrival of the Command’s tactical operatives at the camps, the suspects fled. The criminal camps were subsequently dismantled. A total of twenty-eight human skulls and bones, suspected to be kidnap victims, were recovered,” Chinaka said in a statement. Officers suspect the remains belong to victims of kidnapping gangs that have targeted residents and travelers in the southeast.
This discovery occurs against a backdrop of escalating kidnapping incidents across Nigeria, with SBM Intelligence reporting 7,825 people abducted between July 2025 and June 2026. The consultancy’s data shows that ransom payments reached at least 7.78 billion naira during that period, more than tripling from the previous year. Forests and remote areas have increasingly served as hideouts for these criminal networks, enabling them to evade security forces.
Similar recoveries have taken place in other states recently, including Edo where police retrieved corpses of two kidnap victims from a forest following a gun battle with a syndicate, National Point Newspapers reported. In that case, a 24-year-old suspect was arrested and led authorities to the bodies after being treated for gunshot wounds. The victim accounts described families paying millions in ransom before release, underscoring the profitability of such crimes.
Security operations have intensified in response, with joint efforts by the military, police and vigilantes leading to rescues such as the 21 victims freed from Kogi State forests on August 31, 2026, according to the Nigerian Army. President Bola Tinubu has described some of these as among the largest operations, promising continued action against banditry and abduction rings. A separate report by the Child Evangelism Fellowship noted a 153 percent surge in extremist-related abductions in late 2025.
The southeastern region has seen frequent targeting of motorists and residents by kidnapping groups operating from forested camps, the Abia State Police Command’s action highlights. While no specific links to known cases have been made yet in Abia, the find is expected to aid ongoing probes into disappearances. Forensic analysis will be key in providing closure to affected families.
