Kidnapped Briton freed in Nigeria
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Gunmen have released a Briton kidnapped more than two weeks ago in southern Nigeria.
A British Foreign Office spokesperson said: 'We can confirm a British national, kidnapped on September 15 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, was released on October 4. He has been visited by consular staff and is safe and well.'
Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, spokesman for the military task force in Rivers state, said no ransom was paid for the release of the Briton, a former employee of the petrochemicals firm Indo Rama.
Insecurity in Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil exporter, has cut crude output by around a fifth since militants launched their campaign of violence two years ago to press for greater development in their neglected communities.
Criminal gangs in the Delta, a vast network of mangroves opening into the Gulf of Guinea, have taken advantage of the breakdown in law and order.
Kidnapping for ransom of businessmen, local politicians and foreign workers is common.
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