A Nigerian three-year-old boy has been released by his kidnappers one day after he was snatched on his way to school in the lawless Niger Delta, the boy’s father said on Friday.
The kidnappers had demanded 10-million naira ($78 600) for the child, relatives of the toddler said earlier.
Police identified the boy as Francis Samuel Amadi, the son of a traditional ruler in the community of Iriebe on the outskirts of Port Harcourt, the delta’s main city.
”They called his father and asked for 10-million naira,” said a source in the boy’s family.
It was not clear if ransom was paid to win his release.
Abductions for ransom are commonplace in the Niger Delta but children were rarely targeted until the past month, which saw three child kidnappings.
Local rights activists fear copycat criminal gangs may have seized on the idea of child abductions as the latest strategy to extort hefty ransoms.
The boy attends a private school in Port Harcourt and he was being taken there by the family driver when the kidnappers blocked the car with their own and snatched him, leaving the driver behind.
The abduction on Thursday came just four days after a British girl of the same age was released by her kidnappers in the same area.
On Sunday night, unknown ransom-seekers released three-year-old Margaret Hill unharmed after four days in captivity. Gunmen had abducted the toddler on July 5 from the car in which she was being driven to school in Port Harcourt.
The girl’s family and authorities in Rivers state, where Port Harcourt is located, said no money had been paid.
In June, the three-year-old son of a member of the Rivers state House of Assembly was also kidnapped. Nigerian newspapers reported that a ransom had been paid to obtain his release. — Reuters