A kidnapped Saudi businessman has been released with the help of Nigerian authorities on Saturday after seven days of captivity.
“The released Saudi citizen is now on his way to the Saudi embassy in the Nigerian capital,” Director of the Media Department at the Foreign Ministry Osama Nuqali told Arab News on Saturday evening.
The businessman, identified as Hamdan bin Tawalah of Tabuk who was reportedly lured by e-mails of profitable business opportunities in Nigeria, was kidnapped in the Nigerian capital Abuja shortly after his arrival at the airport.
The unknown kidnappers posing as business partners received the visitor at the airport and drove him off to a location 100 kilometers away from the capital last Sunday.
Captors demanded a $150 million (SR563 million) ransom to release him, according to Saudi Ambassador to Nigeria Khaled Abdul Rabboo.
Nigerian police were trying their best to locate the kidnappers, according to an embassy source.
The businessman was a victim of swindlers with whom he agreed to meet at the airport in the Nigerian capital. He had contacted them earlier to do business together and also seek some medical treatment. They took him to an unknown destination, the report said.
The ambassador has also issued a warning to Saudi businessmen who are interested in investing in Nigeria or visiting the country to consult the Saudi mission in Abuja in advance. The victim’s brother Muhammad Saleh bin Tawalah said an armed group kidnapped his brother when leaving the airport.