Posted by AFP on
A British oil worker who was kidnapped in Nigeria's oil capital of Port Harcourt is free after 15 days in captivity, police said Monday.
LAGOS (AFP) - A British oil worker who was kidnapped in Nigeria's oil capital of Port Harcourt is free after 15 days in captivity, police said Monday.
Bruce Strachan, 43, employed by Global Lifting Services of Aberdeen, had been kidnapped from an upmarket neighbourhood in Port Harcourt on November 27.
"A Scottish man was released on Friday," police spokeswoman Rita Abbey told AFP, confirming the end of Strachan's ordeal. "He was not harmed."
She was unaware if any ransom was paid.
Kidnappings are commonplace in southern Nigeria's oil region, with hundreds of people -- many but not all connected to the oil industry -- seized in the past three years alone.
Most are released unharmed after a few days or weeks, often after a ransom is paid.
Unrest in the Niger Delta has reduced Nigeria's oil output by around one quarter since 2006.