Two persons from Visakhapatnam kidnapped in Nigeria

Suspected terrorists have kidnapped two Indian nationals from Gboko, a town in the Benue state of north-central Nigeria, family members of one of them here said yesterday.

Mangipudi Sai Srinivas who hails from Visakhapatnam and his colleague Anish Sharma were reportedly kidnapped on June 29.

Srinivas's relatives approached the district collector N Yuvaraj yesterday, requesting him to take steps for their release.

Sharma and Srinivas were travelling to Dangote Cement Plc Plant in a car from their residential quarters at around 7.20 pm on Wednesday when a group of armed men kidnapped them at a traffic signal.

Srinivas's wife, M Lalitha said he is a civil engineer and has been working for Dangote Cement in Gboko for the last three years. Before that, he worked with Aditya Birla group in Raipur.

"I tried to reach my husband on Wednesday but could not contact him. I called up the officials of the Plant this morning, and they informed me about kidnapping," she said.

Collector N Yuvaraj said that Nigerian authorities had launched a search operation, and the district administration had contacted the Ministry of External Affairs and the Indian Embassy in Nigeria about the development.