6 foreign oil workers kidnapped in Nigeria released

Six foreign oil workers kidnapped in southern Nigeria earlier this month have been released, police said Tuesday. One Russian, three Ukrainian and two Indian sailors were abducted from a Nigerian-owned oil tanker on February 17 by armed men off the coast of southern Bayelsa state, dpa reported. The kidnappers had demanded a sum of 200 million Nigerian naira (1.3 million dollars), but the state’s police commissioner, Kingsley Omire, said no ransom was paid for the hostages’ release. However, Bayelsa residents, who requested anonymity, told dpa that a ransom of 100 million naira was paid. Kidnapping and piracy have become a booming business for gangs in the West African country, making the Gulf of Guinea the “new dangerous maritime area in Africa,” according to the London-based think tank International Crisis Group.