A 12-year-old kidnapped victim has been rescued in Kwara State.
The victim was rescued during a routine security patrol in the North Central State.
His abductors had smuggled him into a coffin where he was reportedly covered with a white cloth.
But officials of the Nigerian Immigration Service had stopped the vehicle which was conveying a coffin.
The persons inside the vehicle were said to have escaped into the bush but a little opening found on the coffin gave them out.
The opening made the eagle-eyed operatives to probe further until the found the victim, who was reportedly unconscious.
Confirming the incident, Babawale Zaid Afolabi, spokesman of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), said the Immigration officials spotted the unmarked vehicle and flagged it down.
“It was when the immigration officers searched the vehicle that they discovered a coffin and when they opened the coffin, a minor of about 12 years old was seen inside the casket, covered with white cloth,” Babawale explained.
He narrated further that the Immigration officials alerted NSCDC and other security agencies involved in border patrol, saying efforts are ongoing to arrest the two occupants of the vehicle.
“The boy has been medically examined and found to be fine while further check revealed that the boy is from a village in Benin Republic.”
“The rescued minor has been handed over to the policemen in Benin Republic for further investigations and subsequent reunion with his family,” he added.