U.S. citizen kidnapped in Nigeria freed, embassy officials say

Published January 27, 2012

| Associated Press

LAGOS, Nigeria – A spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria says a U.S. citizen kidnapped in the country's oil-rich southern delta has been released.

Spokeswoman Deb MacLean told The Associated Press on Friday the man had been released. She declined to offer any other information.

The freed hostage was identified as 50-year-old William Gregory Ock of Bowdon, Ga., by his sister, Dee Dee Patterson.

Patterson told the AP on Friday that the family had no details of his release.

Police previously said the attack happened in Warri, the capital of Delta state. The police said the assailants trailed the man to a bank and waited outside before kidnapping him.

The attack occurred in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta, where foreign firms have pumped oil out of the country for more than 50 years.

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