A NORTH-EAST man taken hostage in Nigeria last month has been freed by his captors, the P&J can reveal.
Bruce Strachan, of Cults, Aberdeen, is thought to have been on his way home in the Niger Delta town of Port Harcourt when two armed men in another car forced him to stop on November 27.
They took him hostage and demanded 300million naira – the equivalent of £1.6million – for his safe release.
However, he was set free at 7pm on Saturday and taken to hospital for checks. He was not harmed, but his ordeal left him exhausted.
Mr Strachan has a flat at Cults but is believed to have been living in Nigeria with his Nigerian wife, Susan, and their baby son David.
A family spokeswoman said: “It’s been confirmed (his release) and Bruce has spoken to his mum and dad.
“He’s out and in a hotel with Susan and David. His mother says he’s been to hospital but would not stay. He’s shattered and not able to travel just yet, but she hopes he will stick to his original plan and be home for Christmas.
“Thanks to everyone for your prayers and well wishes – they have worked.”
Mr Strachan works for Aberdeen-based Global Lifting Services, which has an office at the Bridge of Don. The company has said its Nigerian arm is dealing with the situation. It is not known if it paid the huge ransom and no one from the firm was available for comment last night.
Users of Oyibos Online, an internet community for expat oil workers in Nigeria, were overjoyed at his release. One said: “Welcome back, Bruce. I hope all is well and you can put all this behind you and move on from it.”
Another posted: “Bruce, good to have you back. Your family must be overjoyed. Now go and have a great Christmas.”
Oil workers previously flooded the site with tributes, describing him as “one of the best guys around”.
The Foreign Office would not say if the £1.6million ransom demand had been paid.
A spokeswoman said: “We are delighted to confirm that the British national kidnapped from Port Harcourt on November 27 has now been released.”
There are still two Britons being held hostage in Nigeria, and today is their 99th day in captivity. They were seized when a supply vessel, the HD Blue Ocean, was attacked by unidentified gunmen on September 9 at the entrance of the Sambreiro River in the hostile Niger Delta, a vast network of mangrove creeks which is home to Nigeria’s oil industry.
Nigerian militants are refusing to release them in a protest at Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s pledge to help the trouble-torn country fight terrorism.
Workers in Nigeria have been critical of the “lack of action” taken to try to secure their release. Since January 2006, 44 Britons and more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Nigeria. One Briton was killed.
Two years ago, four north-east men were taken hostage. Graeme Buchan, 30, of Stuartfield, near Mintlaw; Paul Smith, 32, of Peterhead; Sandy Cruden, 45, of Inverurie; and George McLean, 42, of Elgin, were among seven men seized at gunpoint from a bar. They were held for almost three weeks by a gang who assaulted them with sticks and machetes and, at one point, they were told they would be sacrificed.
Mr Buchan twice had a gun put to his head and was ordered to call Mr Smith’s wife and tell her first that her husband was ill and later that he had died.
All the men were later released.
