Kidnappers are demanding a ransom of 60 million naira (about $200,000) for a German archaeologist and his associate abducted this week in Kaduna, a worker at the excavation site said. Two villagers were shot and killed in the kidnapping, police confirmed Friday.
The worker said he heard a man make the demand in a telephone call Thursday to the site’s supervisor. The caller warned not to involve police or security forces, said the worker, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to reporters.
Police Special Forces and a special investigative team for kidnappings already were searching around Jenjela village in Kaduna state, where gunmen on Wednesday abducted Professor Peter Breunig and his associate Johannes Behringer and walked with them into the bush.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo summoned the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, for a briefing Thursday on efforts to find the kidnap victims, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported.
Two villagers accompanying the Germans were shot and killed in the kidnapping, police spokesman Aliyu Usman confirmed Friday.
Police were not aware of any ransom demand, Usman added.
Breunig, 65, and Behringer, who is in his 20s, are part of a four-person team from Frankfurt’s Goethe University collaborating with the Nigeria’s National Commission for Museum and Monuments to recover relics of the Nok culture.
The early Iron Age people are considered the earliest ancient civilization of the region that is now Nigeria, famous for their terracotta sculptures.
“The Nigeria Police Force while assuring all Nigerians and foreign Nationals in the country of their safety, the Force wishes to implore them to always request and obtain Police escort to protect them any time they are embarking on research, mining and related endeavours outside the towns and cities across the country,” Usman said in a statement on Thursday.
