Gunmen demand N5m ranson for kidnapped Agip staff

    
Gunmen, who attacked Nigerian Agip Oil Company’s tugboat and abducted the vessel’s chief engineer and a captain along the waterways of Nembe, Bayelsa State, have demanded N5m ransom.

A source, who craved anonymity, said on Tuesday that the seven gunmen who attacked Agip gunboat contacted the company and demanded N5m ransom to free their captives.

The boat which sailed from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, to Brass in Bayelsa, to load petroleum products at Agip terminal was attacked by the hoodlums on Saturday evening at Peter’s Town, Nembe.

The Movement for Emancipation of Niger Delta had claimed responsibility for the incident.

But the source said security operatives comprising the Nigerian Navy and the Joint Task Force, Operation Pulo Shield, did not have clues on the whereabouts of the gunmen and their victims.

“They only contacted the company and demanded N5m ransom. Negotiations are going on and they may likely reduce it. Security operatives don’t know their whereabouts,” he said.