Chinese gold mining workers kidnapped in Nigeria by armed gang
- Two men abducted in the African country’s southwest by gang who shot their security guards
- Chinese firms working on Nigerian infrastructure projects have been targeted repeatedly in kidnap plots
and shot their security guards, police said on Wednesday, in the latest such incident in the area.
Kidnapping for ransom used to be common in Nigeria’s oil-producing south, but has lately spread to other parts of the country. The victims are usually released after a ransom is paid, although police rarely confirm whether money changes hands.
The latest abduction occurred on Monday at Okepa/Itikan village in Osun state, police spokeswoman Yemisi Opalola said in a statement. She said “a gang of criminals, at about 4pm, attacked and abducted two Chinese nationals”.
“The two men, namely Zhao Jian, 33, and Wen, 50, were working at a mining site,” she said.
The gunmen shot and wounded two private guards attached to the foreigners, and they had been admitted to hospital, the spokeswoman said, adding: “The police are on the trail of the perpetrators of the crime.”
Last July, four Chinese workers were abducted from a quarry site in southern Cross River state while their police guard was killed. They were released a month later.
