Six officials of the Federal Road Safety Corps out of the 26 officers released recently by bandits in the Maraba-Udege area of the Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nasarawa State have said they paid between N5m and N6m each as ransom.
The victims, who spoke on BBC Hausa Service monitored in Lafia, said three of their relatives brought the money and handed over to the kidnappers.
Some of the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their relatives, who came to secure their release, were told by the kidnappers to go back to Nasarawa town and cash the money from one of the banks.
One of them said, “Three of our relatives that came to release us from the kidnappers den paid between N6m and N5m each before we were released. I was watching our relatives while handing over the money to the kidnappers.”
“They went back to Nasarawa Local Government Area alongside the driver to cash the money. And when the driver brought the money, they were asked to stay, pending when the money was handed over to them.”
According to him, after the driver paid the kidnappers, they moved into the bush and started shooting indiscriminately into the air to scare them away.
The Commissioner of Police in Nasarawa State, Mr Bola Longe, said, “I am not aware, and the Nigeria Police in Nasarawa State are not aware if any ransom was paid.”