2 German engineers shot dead in Abuja – Report

By Ese Awhotu with agency report

. . .As Navy warns on expatriate kidnappers in Nigeria

The German Foreign Office has disclosed that two Germans have been killed in Nigeria. The men were shot dead last Saturday while making a private outing on a motorbike, according to northern German newspaper.

The Ostsee Zeitung newspaper on Wednesday identified the men as engineers aged 34 and about 20 who worked for the large Nigerian construction company Julius Berger.

Both originated from Germany’s northeastern state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, the newspaper said.

The Foreign Office provided no further details, saying the German embassy in Abuja was seeking clarification in close contact with Nigerian authorities.

A source at Julius Berger’s head office in Abuja said.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Navy has alerted Nigerians to be wary of the activities of some unscrupulous foreigners in the country who now engaged in such heinous crimes as kidnapping and hostage-taking.

The Commanding Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Delta, Captain Musa Gemu, gave the warning Thursday evening while handing over two kidnapped expatriates to their company lawyer at the Naval Base Warri.

According to Gemu, the two men were rescued by the naval operatives who stormed Broadwell Hotel in Warri, where the duo had been allegedly held hostage for about two weeks after illegally being held in Sapele by some Delta State-based expatriate businessmen, including a German and a Belgian.

Speaking to newsmen, the freed men commended the Nigerian Navy for their intervention as well as a Romanian and Captain of the cargo vessel, Mr Radu Daniel Stefan, and a Latenian, Mr Sergjst Kuzuecuz.