The Managing Director of Bank of Agriculture (BOA), Alwan Hassan, who was abducted on the Kaduna-Abuja train on March 28, has finally breathed an air of freedom after a ransom of N100 million was paid.
Hassan was released on Wednesday evening after spending about 10 days in captivity.
Persecondnews recalls that the bank CEO, who travelled Business Class, was kidnapped alongside scores of passengers of on the train after terrorists bombed the rail tracks to derail the wheeled vehicles.
At least eight persons were killed by the terrorists who invaded the train, shooting sporadically and scores injured.
The family said they paid N100m to negotiate the freedom of the abducted managing director.
Although the terrorists had claimed that no ransom was paid in a short video, a source close to the family said ransom was paid.
To negotiate the ransom, the kidnappers had sent the video of the harrowing experience Hassan and other 162 captives were facing to the family.
“A few days earlier, they sent the video of their harrowing condition in order to raise their stake. Alwan was always saying ‘give them whatever amount they want’.
“So the family gave them what they insisted on… that is N100million,” sources close to the family said.
The kidnappers had first asked the family to take the money to a forest in Katsina on Tuesday before redirecting them to another forest in Kaduna.
“After several hours in the bush, the gunmen appeared fully armed in their hundreds to collect the ransom,” the sources said.
