4 Oil Workers Kidnapped in Nigeria

A group of gunmen wearing security force uniforms invaded a compound in restive southern Nigeria and kidnapped four foreign oil workers without firing a shot, police said Saturday.

The abduction occurred overnight at the U.S.-based oil-services firm Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) in Port Harcourt and the kidnapped included one Dutch, one British and one Pakistani citizen, Rivers State Police Commissioner Felix Ogbaudu said.

The nationality of the fourth captive was not immediately available. The British embassy in Nigeria had no information on a missing Briton, and the company and other embassies weren't immediately reachable for comment.

In what appeared to be a first, the gunmen wore uniforms that resembled those of one of Nigeria's two police forces, and they were able to enter the compound and leave again without firing a shot, said Ogbaudu, speaking by telephone.

He noted that both uniforms - black for regular officers and green for elite mobile police known by the abbreviation Mopol - are simple in appearance and easily duplicated. The gunmen couldn't be presumed to be security forces, he said.

"Remember, it was dark and any black uniform will be seen as a police uniform and green will be Mopol," he said.

Nigeria's security forces, however, are deeply corrupt, with police shaking down travelers at checkpoints across the country. Many of the more-sophisticated crimes are presumed by Nigerians to have at least a tacit involvement by police who have been paid off to look the other way.

A former inspector general was forced out after local media reported that he had embezzled funds and owned more than 70 homes in Nigeria.

More than two dozen foreigners are in captivity in the Niger Delta region where all of the crude in Africa's biggest producer is pumped. Over 200 people have been abducted since militants upped their bombing and kidnapping activities in the region in late 2005, slashing crude output by about one quarter. Only one arrest has been known to be made in the region connected to the spate of kidnappings.

More than 100 foreigners have been taken this year alone as criminal gangs have taken up the practice. Hostages are usually released unharmed after a ransom is paid.

The militants say they're trying to force the federal government to give more state-controlled oil funds to their region, which remains deeply impoverished despite its natural bounty.

President Umaru Yar'Adua, who was inaugurated as Nigeria's new president last week, has promised to try and solve the rising violence in the region. Militants say they'll keep up their attacks, but will be watching keenly to see if Yar'Adua keeps his word.

Nigeria is Africa's top crude producer and a leading exporter of oil to the United States. [via]