Filipino hostages may be freed
2006-06-22 20:03
Lagos - Nigerian police stepped up efforts on Thursday to secure freedom for two Filipino oil workers kidnapped two days ago by unknown gunmen terrorising the swamps of the oil rich Niger Delta.
Haz Iwendi of police said: "We have stepped up efforts to secure their release. We are still trying to establish contacts with the kidnappers."
He said the latest kidnapping in the region, home to the country's lucrative oil industry, came barely two weeks after five South Korean oil workers were abducted. They were released unharmed two days later.
He said: "We are not losing sleep over this dastardly act. It is the responsibility of the security forces to secure their release and guarantee safety of oil workers and their facilities."
MEND claims several kidnappings
The oilmen working for Petroleum Geo-Services in Port Harcourt were abducted on Tuesday by several gunmen in a speed boat, but no group had claimed responsibility for the attack.
A shadowy separatist group, the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), which had claimed several kidnappings since January, said it was not involved in the latest abduction.
The group said: "We have nothing to do with that."
Foreign oil workers had frequently been targeted in the Niger Delta, a hotbed of unrest by armed separatists demanding a larger share in oil revenues and compensation for environmental destruction due to oil exploration.
Since January, 31 foreign oil workers - now including the two Filipinos - had been kidnapped in the region, but all previous hostages had been freed unharmed after periods in captivity ranging from several days to several weeks.