The three students kidnapped from a hostel at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Cross River State, last week have not been released.

FIJ learned that gunmen, who shot sporadically into the air, took the students via speedboats through a river after breaking into Freedom Hostel around 7:00 pm on Friday.

The kidnapped students were Damilola Dickson and Ugwu Chukwuemeka, students of genetics and biotechnology, and Ojang Precious Ebejin, a 200-level student of medicine and surgery.

A source, who does not want to be named, told FIJ that Dickson, a final-year student, is an only child with about five months left to graduate from the university.

READ ALSO: ‘They Broke Into My Hostel With Guns’ — Zamfara University’s Kidnap Survivor Recounts Terrifying Ordeal

FIJ is aware that UNICAL is currently on break, but it is not out of place to have some students stay back in school during the holidays.

According to FIJ’s source at the school, kidnappers often escape with their victims via the waterways in the state. She also revealed that the school often cautioned students against moving close to the waterways.

“That river [known as UNICAL river to students], where the kidnappers plied with the abducted students, seems to be close to Cameroun, and we are always warned against going there. When it comes to kidnapping and these unknown gunmen, they always pass through that river down to school for the atrocities they want to commit,” the source told FIJ.

“An incident happened in the past, and the school said any student found along that river would be a suspect. I think it was when a 400-level student was kidnapped just after her project defence.

“At the moment, nothing is happening on campus. Security operatives are there, manning different checkpoints. I saw local security operatives on the campus yesterday, checking the vehicles coming in and going via the main gate.”

READ ALSO: ‘Sell Your Bus to Raise Ransom’ — Kidnappers Advise Abuja Resident After Taking His Daughters

‘NO UPDATE, BUT ALL HANDS ON DECK’ — POLICE

When FIJ contacted SP Irene Ugbo, the police spokesperson in the state, on Tuesday to know if the kidnappers had reached out to demand ransom, she said, “Not yet, but we are on it.”

“In the case of kidnapping, we don’t talk too much. It is only when we have made progress and achieved something. By achievement, I mean when people have been rescued. This (Tuesday) morning, the commissioner of police met with the school management, and they deliberated for a very long time. We are working on how to make sure the students are released.

“You know Cross River is a riverine area, thus making it difficult to police, but we have been trying our best to ensure the place is calm. Things have been calm over time, but perhaps because the water across the university is not fenced, thus making it easier for one side to access the other and vice versa, which is not supposed to be so. However, the commissioner of police has met with the school management, and they plan to do something about it to prevent future occurrences. The CP is not relenting at all; we will find the students.”

Abimbola Abatta is a reporter with FIJ writing reports in partnership with Report for the World which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.