Nigeria’s secret service said it had arrested a man allegedly behind the abduction of seven contractors in the restive oil-rich south following a spate of hostage-for-ransom crimes.
Three Australian contractors working for Lafarge Cement Company near the southern city of Calabar were kidnapped in June along with two Nigerians, a New Zealander and a South African.
Their Nigerian driver was killed in the attack and a fourth Australian escaped. The kidnapped men were later released with Nigerian police saying at the time that no ransom was paid.
“On 22nd August, 2016, one Samuel Asuquo, a kidnap kingpin was arrested by the Service at Nasarawa Bakoko village in Cross River State,” the Department of State Service said in a statement late Sunday.
“Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom of 150 million naira ($476,000/426,000 euros).”
Kidnappings targeting prominent Nigerians and expatriate workers were rife a decade ago until a 2009 government amnesty deal with militants reduced unrest in the region.
On Friday, gunmen kidnapped 15 local oil workers on a road near the oil hub Port Harcourt.
Unrest is growing in Nigeria as it grapples with a recession and inflation running at an 11-year-high of 17.1 per cent.
Along with a spate of kidnappings this year, rebels in the south have renewed their attacks on Nigeria’s oil infrastructure, slashing output in their quest for a greater share of the country’s oil wealth and political autonomy.
“Asuquo was the mastermind of the kidnap of three Australian staff of Lafarge Cement Company, for which his gang received ransom of 150 million naira ($476,000/426,000 euros).”
Kidnappings targeting prominent Nigerians and expatriate workers were rife a decade ago until a 2009 government amnesty deal with militants reduced unrest in the region.
On Friday, gunmen kidnapped 15 local oil workers on a road near the oil hub Port Harcourt.
Unrest is growing in Nigeria as it grapples with a recession and inflation running at an 11-year-high of 17.1 per cent.
Along with a spate of kidnappings this year, rebels in the south have renewed their attacks on Nigeria’s oil infrastructure, slashing output in their quest for a greater share of the country’s oil wealth and political autonomy.
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