Three Croatians have become the latest foreigners to be kidnapped at gunpoint in Nigeria’s oil capital of Port Harcourt, industry sources said on Monday.
Gunmen abducted the three late on Sunday, reportedly as they were out drinking in the city now notorious for the dozens of foreigners who have been seized in recent months.
Industry sources said the three Croatians were employed by HydroDive (Nigeria)., an offshore engineering company that is a subcontractor for Hyundai Heavy Industries Nigeria.
An industry source said the men were in a bar when they were kidnapped.
“People know this sort of thing goes on and yet you have guys who still go out drinking. It makes you wonder,” one security advisor told Agence France-Presse.
The Croatian Foreign Ministry said it was still gathering the information about the case.
“Through our diplomatic network we are gathering and checking all available information about the case. So far we have no official confirmation or relevant data,” the ministry said.
Since January 1 alone, 55 foreigners have been kidnapped by separatist groups and armed gangs in southern Nigeria, almost as many as for the whole of 2006.
The three Croatians bring to nine the number of foreigners currently held in the Delta, a region of swamps and creeks that is very difficult to police.
The other captives are two Filipinos, a Frenchman, two Italians and a Lebanese.
The two Italians and the Lebanese man have been held since early December by the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta.
The kidnappers are a mixture of separatist groups fighting for a larger share of Nigeria’s oil revenue for local people and criminal gangs lured by the prospect of ransom money.
Last week, armed groups released 24 Filipino seamen and one American national they had been holding in the Delta.
None of the parties involved in either incident would admit to paying money for the releases nor was any alternative explanation provided as to why the kidnappers had freed their captives.
While the separatist groups consider that kidnapping foreigners gives them greater leverage, they also kidnap and in some cases kill Nigerians, mostly either oil workers or members of the security services.
Since the start of 2006, 40 members of the Nigerian security forces and dozens of local oil workers have been killed.
Nigeria is Africa’s largest oil producer and derives more than 95% of its foreign-exchange earnings from the fossil fuel.
The West African country currently loses a quarter of its 2,6-million barrels of exports per day because of the unrest in the volatile region.
The losses come about from companies being obliged to temporarily close production facilities when they are occupied by armed groups and from bunkering, the practise of stealing oil and selling it on the black market. — AFP