The Nigerian military has stormed a hideout and freed one of two Chinese workers abducted by unknown gunmen more than two months ago in the country’s southeast, the police said Monday.
“One of the men was rescued by the army at the weekend,” Anambra State police spokesman Fidelis Agbo told AFP, refusing to give details of the operation.
Local press said military officers stormed a hideout used by the captors in the nearby Ebonyi State, following a tipoff.
The Vanguard newspaper said the whereabouts of the second Chinese worker abducted on March 17 from a Chinese-run factory in the town of Nnewi, were still unknown, but added security forces had stepped up efforts to locate him.
The identities of the two men have not been made public and Chinese diplomats in Nigeria have been reluctant to speak about the case, the first time foreigners had been abducted in Anambra State.
Most recent hostage takings in Nigeria have been in the oil-rich states of the south.
Since the start of 2006, some 190 expatriates have been seized in the region. Most have been released unharmed after a few days or a few weeks.
The kidnappers are a mixture of militant groups capable of carrying out daring raids on deepwater oil facilities, members of disgruntled local communities and criminal gangs out to make ransom money.
Five Chinese telecoms workers were abducted in early January in Nigeria and released unharmed about two weeks later.
Another nine Chinese oil workers were kidnapped on January 25 before being freed unharmed after 11 days in captivity.