{"id":6781,"date":"2013-07-19T21:25:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-19T21:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/briton-kidnapped-in-lagos\/"},"modified":"2013-07-19T21:25:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-19T21:25:54","slug":"briton-kidnapped-in-lagos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/briton-kidnapped-in-lagos\/","title":{"rendered":"Briton kidnapped in Lagos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A yet to be identified British national has been kidnapped by gunmen shortly after landing at the international airport in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, a diplomat and a private security said Friday.<\/p>\n

“There was a kidnapping of a Briton and we are working with the Nigerian authorities,” said Wale Adebayo, spokesman at the Deputy High Commission in Lagos.<\/p>\n

He declined to provide any details, including the day the attack occurred.<\/p>\n

A private security source familiar with incident however told AFP that the British man was abducted on Tuesday while travelling into the city after landing at the airport.<\/p>\n

The attackers opened fire on the vehicle and “the driver was injured by a gunshot,” before the Briton was seized, added the source, who requested anonymity.<\/p>\n

He said there were strong indications that the gunmen were seeking a ransom payment.<\/p>\n

There is typically heavy traffic well into the night on most roads leading from the airport in the Ikeja neighbourhood towards central Lagos.<\/p>\n

It was not clear where the attack occurred, or whether there were witnesses nearby.<\/p>\n

The kidnapping of foreigners for ransom is common in Nigeria, particularly around the oil-rich southern coast, and there has also been a rise in such incidents in Lagos.<\/p>\n

In March a British man working for the French energy company CGG was kidnapped in the upscale Victoria Island area of the city.<\/p>\n

He was released days later, with officials refusing to confirm reports that a ransom had been paid.<\/p>\n

In the oil-producing Niger Delta region, foreigners working in the oil sector are often released following an armed abduction. Their employers and officials typically do not reveal details about ransoms.<\/p>\n

Foreigners have also been kidnapped in the north, but those attacks are considered a different and have been blamed on Islamist extremists.<\/p>\n

A Briton was among seven foreigners kidnapped in February from a construction site in the northern Bauchi state in attack claimed by the Islamist group Ansaru.<\/p>\n

Ansaru later posted a video on YouTube that appeared to show the corpses of some of the hostages.<\/p>\n

In 2010, 28-year-old Briton Chris McManus was abducted along with an Italian national, Franco Lamolinara, in northern Kebbi state.<\/p>\n

They were both killed in northwestern Sokoto state nearly a year later amid a rescue operation jointly planned by British and Nigerian authorities and authorised by British Prime Minister David Cameron.<\/p>\n

That attack was later also blamed on Ansaru, a group which is seen as an offshoot Boko Haram, the Islamist insurgents who have also targeted foreigners.<\/p>\n

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