EXPATRIATE KIDNAPPED IN LAGOS

AN expatriate has been kidnapped in Lagos, the US
consulate said Sunday, but no further details were immediately available.

A US consulate spokeswoman did not reveal the nationality
of the victim.

Such incidents are rare in Lagos, though kidnappings for
ransom occur regularly in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region and
Islamist extremists have carried out abductions in the north.

“The US Consulate General in Lagos received a report that
an expatriate was kidnapped on Victoria Island on Saturday, March 23 at
approximately 11 pm,” the consulate said in a message to US citizens, referring
to an upscale area of Lagos.

“Nigerian law enforcement confirmed this incident.”

Police in Lagos, the economic capital of the
nation’s  could not be reached for comment.

Victims of kidnappings in the Niger Delta and other areas
of the south are usually released unharmed after payment of ransoms.

Abductions in Nigeria’s north have however had deadly
results.

Islamist extremist group, Ansaru, recently claimed to
have executed seven foreign hostages.

In addition, a British national and an Italian were
killed during a botched 2012 rescue operation, as was a German the same year.

Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram is believed
to currently be holding seven members of a French family abducted over the
border in Cameroon.

Source: Vanguard