Howard County police are investigating the abduction of a Columbia man who reported that he was kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to drive five men from Columbia to Washington and back.

Police said the 18-year-old man reported five African-American men approached him Tuesday afternoon at the Kings Contrivance Village Center and wanted a ride to Washington.

When he refused, he told police, one of the men pulled out a gun and demanded that he take them there.

The man said he observed one of the men purchase drugs in Washington, and then the abductors instructed him to drive them back to Columbia.

Police requested that the abducted man's name be withheld for his protection until arrests are made.

Pub Date: 9/24/98