A GROUP OF FOREIGN WORKERS WERE KIDNAPPED FROM A CAR UNDER POLICE ESCORT IN NIGERIA'S SOUTHERN OIL CAPITAL PORT HARCOURT ON THURSDAY, A DAY AFTER A U.S. OIL EXECUTIVE WAS SHOT DEAD IN THE SAME CITY, REUTERS REPORTED. POLICE SAID BETWEEN ONE AND THREE EXPATRIATES HAD BEEN ABDUCTED, BUT ONE SUSPECTED KIDNAPPER HAD BEEN ARRESTED. "A GROUP OF EXPATRIATES WERE KIDNAPPED IN PORT HARCOURT CITY. THEY HAD MOBILE (ARMED) POLICE ESCORT, BUT THE KIDNAPPERS GOT THE MOBILE POLICE OUT OF THE CAR AND KIDNAPPED THE EXPATRIATES," AN OIL INDUSTRY SOURCE SAID, ASKING NOT TO BE NAMED BECAUSE OF HIS COMPANY'S POLICY. RIVERS STATE POLICE COMMISSIONER SAMUEL AGBETUYI SAID REPORTS OF THE ABDUCTION WERE STILL SKETCHY, AND THAT BETWEEN ONE AND THREE EXPATRIATES WERE INVOLVED. "ONE OF THOSE WHO DID IT HAS BEEN ARRESTED," HE TOLD REUTERS BY TELEPHONE. PORT HARCOURT IS THE LARGEST CITY IN THE NIGER DELTA, AND SEVERAL OIL MULTINATIONALS HAVE MAJOR OFFICES THERE, INCLUDING ROYAL DUTCH SHELL AND AGIP.
