Pro-biafran militants are holding five foreigners ransom after hijacking a chemical tanker off the coast of Nigeria, a risk consultancy firm reported Thursday.
Chemical tanker Leon Dias was stormed January 29 near Brass, in the country’s oil-rich south, with the kidnappers leaving the boat two days later taking two Filipinos, two Russians and one Georgian as hostages.
A renegade Biafran separatist dubbed “General Ben” made headlines in Nigeria after claiming responsibility for the hijacking and demanding the release of incarcerated separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, who has been detained while awaiting trial on charges of ethnic incitement and sedition.
Yet experts familiar with maritime attacks in the volatile region dismissed the idea that the hijacking was linked to the Biafran movement, which seeks to create an independent state in the southeast.
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