The Department of State Services (DSS) has arraigned five suspects before the Imo State High Court over the alleged abduction of 24 persons, including 20 prospective members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). 

The defendants are facing charges bordering on conspiracy, hostage-taking and unlawful possession of firearms in two separate cases filed before the court.

Three of the suspects, identified as Usman Aliyu, 25, also known as Chonge; Babangida Aliyu, 21; and Mohammed Ali, 23, alias Smallie Pepper, were accused of abducting 20 prospective corps members on October 1, 2026, during Nigeria’s Independence Day celebrations.

According to the charge sheet filed at the Imo State High Court, Oru Judicial Division, Mgbidi, the defendants allegedly acted alongside other accomplices who are still at large to abduct the victims along the Owerri-Mgbidi-Onitsha Expressway.

The prospective corps members were reportedly travelling from Ibadan to their respective NYSC orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states when they were kidnapped. They were subsequently rescued after spending seven days in captivity.

The three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit hostage-taking, an offence punishable under Section 6 of the Imo State Prohibition of Hostage Taking and Related Offences Law No. 4 of 2009.

They were also accused of being in unlawful possession of three AK-47 rifles, four magazines, a pistol and 81 rounds of live ammunition.

The DSS disclosed the arraignment in a statement on Tuesday, identifying the three defendants as the suspects specifically linked to the abduction of the prospective corps members.

In a separate case, two other defendants, Aminu Haliru, 27, and Tange Ibrahim, 20, also known as Jijji, were arraigned over the alleged abduction of four persons around Owerri and Mgbidi on October 4, 2026.

The prosecution alleged that the two defendants, alongside other accomplices still at large, collected N8 million as ransom for the release of the four victims.

Haliru and Ibrahim were also accused of unlawfully possessing an AK-47 rifle and a pump-action gun.

Court documents reportedly listed N1.8 million as money recovered in connection with the second case.

A DSS investigator and the victims were listed as prosecution witnesses in both cases.

The arraignments followed investigations into the separate abduction incidents in Imo State, with the five defendants facing allegations relating to kidnapping, hostage-taking and illegal possession of firearms.

The allegations are before the court for determination.