Kidnappers kill abducted palm wine tapper after family offers N10,000 for his release

A palm wine tapper abducted in Emuhu, near Agbor in Delta State, has been killed by his captors after his family reportedly managed to raise only N10,000 for his release.

The incident involved two palm wine tappers who were seized on Thursday during their usual trek into the bush. Their kidnapping immediately alarmed residents and spurred a coordinated search involving local leaders and security agencies.

Security analyst Zagozola Makama reported on Friday that a joint community search-and-rescue mission across Delta and Edo states eventually uncovered the fate of the two victims, with one survivor found alive.

A local coordinator who first alerted authorities said he halted all engagements to join the rescue effort.

He explained that soldiers from the 63 Brigade, members of the Emuhu Vigilante Group, Anti-Cult Abavo, Operation Soup, and multiple Police units spread out across forests stretching from Emuhu to Abavo, through Obi-Ayama, and into the thick bushes of Urhonigbe in Edo State.

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Their efforts paid off in Urhonigbe, where one of the abducted men was discovered alive but exhausted and severely shaken.

He later reportedly revealed that his colleague had been killed after his family, overwhelmed by financial hardship, offered the kidnappers the only sum they could gather — ₦10,000.

The disclosure left rescuers and community members devastated.

According to one member of the rescue team, “This is the painful reality our people are facing. Families too poor to pay ransoms, communities living in fear, and criminals treating human lives as bargaining chips.”

The surviving victim is receiving medical attention as security forces continue their pursuit of the kidnappers.