PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria (AP) - Kidnappers have seized an Israeli businessman in oil-rich southern Nigeria, officials said Wednesday.
The attackers kidnapped the man late Tuesday in the southern city of Port Harcourt, said regional police spokeswoman Rita Inoma-Abbey.
Authorities arrested the businessman's driver in connection with the case, but no further details were available, she said.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yossi Levi confirmed the kidnapping on Israel Radio, saying that everything possible was being done to secure the man's release. Israel Radio, citing a friend of the kidnapped man, reported that the victim had been working in Nigeria for many years.
The southern region's main militant group, Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, said in a statement that it was not involved in the kidnapping and offered to help secure the man's release, if requested by the Israeli ambassador to Nigeria.
More than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in two years of heightened violence across Nigeria's restive south. The victims are normally released unharmed after a ransom is paid, although several have been killed during botched seizures or rescue attempts. |