(ANSA) – ROME, JUN 15 – The Nigerian police say they are investigating a reported mass kidnapping in the capital Abuja, as the BBC reports. Kidnappings for the purpose of extortion by armed gangs are frequent throughout the country, but this case is outside the norm because one of the alleged hostages posted a tweet and sent a WhatsApp message with the location of the kidnapped people, asking for help while armed men they led the group to an unknown destination.
For the first time, therefore, public opinion was reached directly by the news of a kidnapping, asking the authorities to rescue the hostages on the same social media. According to the message via Twitter, the 17 people were kidnapped from different parts of Abuja and among them there are also three pregnant women and two children.
The communication received nearly 40,000 retweets and more than 2,500 people sent messages, many of them urging the Nigerian authorities to take action. The police command of the territory of the federal capital has declared that the investigations are underway, inviting calm and thanking those who have provided “useful information”. (HANDLE).
Source: Ansa
I have been working in the news industry for over 10 years now and I have worked for some of the biggest news websites in the world. My focus has always been on entertainment news, but I also cover a range of other topics. I am currently an author at Global happenings and I love writing about all things pop-culture related.
