Militants in Port Har-court, Rivers State yesterday morning kidnapped five Chinese nationals working for ATSC, an Abuja based landline Telecommunications Company at Rumuakunde in Emuoha Local Govern-ment Area of the state.
Reports about the hostage taking indicate that the five were abducted while only one of them escaped. The incident has made the Commissioner of Police in the State, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu to remind expatriates and landlords to furnish Police with information on quartering expatriates for security reasons.
The Chinese were said to have arrived the state and took up residence without informing the police for the past three weeks until their kidnap in the early hours of yesterday. Their itinerary, which may have seen them out so early was not clear at press time.
Names of those taken away to an unknown destination by the militant youths were given as Wuu, Lee, Luwu, Xioq and Gwo but no further information about them was made known.
Also, as at the time of filing this report, the identity of their captors was yet to be known while no group has come up to claim responsibility for the kidnap nor is the motive known.
Confirming the story to THISDAY, Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Ireju Barasua said that the contract, which they were supposed to execute, was yet to take off before the incident.
She however explained that once the kidnap was reported, they mobilized their men who were working to make contact with people in the community who would assist the police in locating the Chinese so that negotiations for their release could be effected.
Also, apart from the information that the Chinese were casual staff of the telecommunications company, no further information was available since they were said to have kept their mission in the state to themselves.
The kidnap has compelled the police to compile a resident code for foreigners in the state where Ogbaudu is making it compulsory for landlords to list foreigners in their residential apartments.
The directive was to ensure that police have adequate information that will assist them in working out ways of protecting these expatriates from the restive youths who often make cheap millions from abducting them while demanding ransom before their release.
Also, expatriates are meant to inform the police of their movements, vary their routes as well as keep their itineraries secret while they have to avoid late nights, which are part of the factors considered as aiding the kidnappers.
Earlier in the week, the militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had vowed to kill the three Italians and one Lebanese they took hostage when they raided the Brass facility of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited if an attempt was made to free them by force or trick.
They had alleged that Agip offered N70 million to the security men guarding the hostages to enable their escape from custody, adding that since they were not considering monetary inducement for their freedom, they might kill them if they suspected there were plans for their escape.
They further hinted that they would only exchange the hostages for their leader, Alhaji Mujadin Dokubo Asari and the former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Alamieyes-eigha.
Jan62007