Five oil company staff kidnapped in two incidents in Nigeria
29 April 2019
Following the kidnapping of two Shell Nigeria staff members on April 25, gunmen kidnapped three oil workers from a rig in Nigeria’s Delta region on April 27. The Niger Delta produces the bulk of Nigeria’s crude and is plagued by criminal gangs and armed groups demanding a greater share of oil revenues for the region.

Representative image: Shutterstock
In the first incident, two senior employees of Shell were kidnapped and their police escorts killed returning from an official trip to Bayelsa state.
"The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) regrets to confirm the attack on its staff and government security escort at Rumuji, Rivers State, on the East/West road," an SPDC spokesman said.
In the second, a Canadian, a Nigerian and a UK national were kidnapped by gunmen from a Niger Delta Petroleum Resources rig at Ogbele, Rivers State.
Troops and police were searching for the missing men, a military spokesman said. State police said they had stepped up security on an east-west road where armed men had attacked civilians in recent weeks.
According to Reuters, kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria, with foreigners and high-profile Nigerians frequently targeted.
In January last year, two Americans and two Canadian citizens were abducted while travelling from the town of Kafanchan in Kaduna state to the capital Abuja. Two of their police escorts were killed. The four kidnap victims were later freed unharmed in a joint military and police operation.
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