A Scottish oil worker, taken hostage by militants in Nigeria 17-days-ago, has been released unharmed.
Bruce Strachan was kidnapped by an armed gang, on November 27, while in transit to his home in Port Harcourt, the capital of the restless, mineral-laden Niger Delta region.
Mr. Strachan’s kidnappers are reported to have demanded 300 million Nigerian naira – equivalent to £1.6 million – in return for the Scot’s release. At present it remains unclear whether any, or all, of the ransom was paid in order to secure his freedom.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office, based in London, said: “We can confirm the safe release of a British national on December 12. We are providing full consular assistance.” However the government department refused to speculate upon the circumstances surrounding the oil worker’s release, only stating: “The Nigerian authorities are leading on the investigation into the incident and we are in touch with them.”
The southern Nigerian region is home to one eighth of the world’s hydrocarbons, and as a result has become a hotly disputed, and lawless, area of land, where kidnappings have become a way of life.
A large majority of the abductions are made by disgruntled local militant groups, who believe they have a right made are of foreign oil workers embittered by their limited access to the vast amounts of wealth that their land brings to others.
American industrialist, J. Paul Getty, once said: “The meek shall inherit the Earth, but not its mineral right.” The Niger-Delta is quickly becoming a battleground in defiance of this statement.
A spokesman for Aberdeen-based Global Lifting Services, Mr. Strachan’s employers, said that the company was glad the situation had been resolved. They also chose not to respond to allegations that a ransom had been paid for his release.
Earlier this year, the International Transport Workers' Federation, the world's biggest seafaring union, called for Nigerian waters to be declared a war zone after an alarming rise in attacks.
Since January 2006, on dry land, more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Nigeria, including 44 hapless Britons; two of whom were seized when their supply vessel, HD Blue Ocean, was attacked by gunmen at the entrance of the Sambreiro River on September 9.
Nigerian militants have declared that they are holding the two Britons in a protest against Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s pledge to help the troubled country fight terrorism.