Posted by From: Reuters From correspondents in Warri, Nigeria on
TWO oil workers, one British, have been kidnapped in Nigeria, according to police and diplomatic sources.
TWO oil workers, one British, have been kidnapped in Nigeria, according to police and diplomatic sources.
Another foreign oil worker was also abducted along with the Briton in the country's southern delta, but his nationality was not immediately known, the sources said.
A police source said the kidnappers had demanded 50 million naira ($505,850) ransom.
"Two white men were taken from a beer parlour in Warri last night," one police source said. One of the hostages was a Briton, diplomatic and police sources said.
The police source said the second hostage was a US citizen, but an oil industry source said he was Venezuelan.
Neither embassy could immediately confirm the nationality of the second hostage.
The two men were taken from the beer parlour in a bus to a riverside jetty where they were transferred to a boat.
Police then shot the driver of the bus dead after he failed to stop at a checkpoint and arrested two passengers of the bus who are now in the custody of the military in Warri, the source said.