Hamdan Bin Saleh Al-Shammari, the prominent Saudi businessman who was kidnapped last week by a gang in Nigerian city of Lagos, has been rescued, an official at the Saudi Embassy announced Saturday. The kidnappers were demanding $150 million (SR563 million) for his release. Al-Shammari was kidnapped at Abuja Airport in the Nigerian capital last Sunday by a gang posing as businessmen. The gang members were quite hospitable to him at the start, but then took him away to a place 100 km outside Abuja. Sources told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the apartment was tracked down from mobile signals. A security intervention then rescued the businessman. The ministry had earlier said the kidnappers were treating the abducted businessman kindly. Khalid Omar Abd Rabboh, the Kingdom's Ambassador in Nigeria, urged businessmen to coordinate their visits to Nigeria with the Saudi Embassy in Abuja to avoid such mishaps. Muhammad Saleh Bin Tawalah, the abducted businessman's brother, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette from Tabuk that his brother Hamdan had traveled last week to Nigeria for business and medical treatment. “My brother telephoned and informed me that he had been kidnapped by an armed gang when he arrived at Abuja Airport. They forced him into their private car and then drove to a place far away from the Nigerian capital. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of $150 million,” he said. Hamdan is in good health and during his abduction he called his family everyday, Muhammad added. __
