Three Chinese employees have been abducted and their police escort killed following a dispute with local labourers at a gold-mining site in southwest Nigeria, police said Thursday.
The state police spokeswoman Yemisi Opalola while speaking with newsmen disclosed that the incident which happened at the Atakumosa area of Osun state on Monday was under investigation.
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‘The three Chinese nationals were abducted following a dispute with local labourers at the site,‘ Opalola said, adding that the police guard attached to the foreigners was killed in the incident.
Kidnapping for ransom which used to be common in Nigeria’s oil-producing south has lately spread to the other parts of the country.
The victims are usually released after a ransom is paid although police rarely confirm if money changed hands.
Opalola could not immediately say if the laborers were responsible for the Chinese kidnapping, but added that an investigation had been launched.
‘We have also deployed our operatives to the surrounding bushes with a view to securing the release of the Chinese.’
Chinese firms are working in Nigeria on multi-billion-dollar infrastructure projects that include mining, railways, airports, and roads.
Their workers have been repeatedly targeted by kidnap gangs for ransom money.
Last July, four Chinese workers were abducted from a quarry site in southern Cross River state while their police guard was killed. They were freed after a month in captivity.
Criminal collaboration between some ‘Nigerians in high positions of authority’ and Chinese corporations in the illegal mining of gold drive rural banditry and violent local conflicts in some parts of Nigeria. This includes the North West, North Central, and to some extent southwest regions.
An estimated 80% of mining in the North West region is carried out illegally and on an artisanal basis by local populations. This mining of large untapped deposits of minerals in the area, especially gold, because of its strategic importance and economic value, is at the root of violent local conflict.
AFRICA TODAY NEWS, NEW YORK