Israeli abducted in Nigeria released

African captors release businessman Ilan Degauker after several nerve wracking hours

Ronen Medzini|Last update: 10.19.10 , 23:03

Ilan Degauker, an Israeli citizen who was abducted by a local Nigerian gang on Tuesday morning and held for ransom, has been released.

According to a Reuters report, Degauker's captors demanded a ransom of $170,000. The Foreign Ministry confirmed his release, but it is unclear at this time whether a ransom payment was indeed made.

Degauker is employed by a large Nigerian corporation. He was grabbed in a relatively remote location, where businessmen's abductions are a common occurrence.

This is not the first abduction of an Israeli in Africa: In 2008, an Israeli businessman in his 60s was kidnapped and held for ransom in Ghana. He escaped several days afterwards.

Reuters contributed to this report