Spanish national kidnapped in Enugu

LAGOS (AFP) – Gunmen have kidnapped a Spanish national from his home in the southeastern city of Enugu, where he was believed to have been working as a doctor, police said Wednesday.

“The man was abducted from his house last week by some gunmen who took him to an unknown location,” police spokesman Ebere Amaraeze told AFP, adding that the kidnapping occurred on April 4.


“We don’t want to reveal the details of our operation so as not to jeopardise efforts to free him from his captors.”

Amaraeze declined to say if a ransom demand had been made.

Earlier, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said in Madrid that the man was believed to have been abducted and that his disappearance “has all the characteristics of a kidnapping for economic reasons.”

Spanish media reported that the 58-year-old doctor works for a clinic belonging to a foundation financially supported by Catholic institution Opus Dei in Nigeria.

“The organisation he works for has asked for total discretion,” the foreign minister added as he arrived in parliament.

“It is in the south of the country, not in the north, so there are no political implications of any type.”

Spain’s embassy in Nigeria was working with the local authorities to resolve the case and the foreign ministry was in “permanent contact” with the man’s family, a ministry spokesman said.

Scores of kidnappings for ransom have occurred in southern Nigeria, particularly in the oil-producing Niger Delta region, by armed gangs seeking cash. Most victims have been released unharmed following the payment of a ransom.

An insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram, which is concentrated mainly in northern Nigeria, has left more than 1,000 people dead since mid-2009.

Authorities blamed the recent deaths of a British and an Italian hostage in Nigeria’s north on a faction of Boko Haram. A German engineer was also kidnapped on the outskirts of the northern city of Kano in January.

The group has not been known to operate in the south of Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer.

A 2009 amnesty deal greatly reduced unrest in the Niger Delta region, though sporadic incidents continue to occur. Enugu is located near the turbulent region.