Skip to main content
Netherlands News in English

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
Niger Delta
Niger Delta environmental damage - Credit: flickr / Sosialistisk Ungdom – SU
armed men
Dutch nationals
held
hostages
Jandries Groenendijk
kidnapped
media
money
murder
Niger Delta
Nigeria
one dead
press
ransom
released
returned
schiphol
Sunny Ofehe
Monday, 12 May 2014 - 13:55

Share this article:

Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window Opens in a new window

Victims speak about Nigeria abduction

The three Dutch nationals who were released by their Nigerian kidnappers on saturday landed safely at Schiphol this morning. Only one of the returnees was seen at the exit, the other two left the airport via another exit, the Algemeen Dagblad reports. Erhard Leffers, Marianne Vos and Jandries Groenendijk were in Nigeria on invitation from the local community, they were there to promote the magazine of activist Sunny Ofehe. Ofehe was also kidnapped, but released shortly after, and has been updating the press about the welfare of the hostages. He traveled back to the Netherlands with them. Jandries Groenendijk was the only one who talked to the media at Schiphol. He said that around 15 young men between 16 and 30 years of age captured them. The hostages were held in a remote location, reachable only by small boats, in the Niger Delta. Groenendijk dismissed earlier reports that no loose cash was paid to the hostages. "We came free after negotiations with our kidnappers. There was no military action. We were constantly guarded by 15 men in the bush. We experienced scary moments, because they were heavily armed and threatened us with death. I myself heard them say one time that they were going to murder me. But we realized quickly that we were not going to be murder. We were treated relatively well further." Groenendijk does not know how much money was paid, and by whom. In an interview with the NOS, Groenendijk lamented that one person did die during the hijacking. He said that a lot of shots were fired, and people jumped into the water. The victim was hit by the blades of the boat's motor.

More like this

Image
Shell
Shell trying to dodge blame for natural disaster by withdrawing from Nigeria: SOMO
Image
Close-up of a judge’s gavel
Appeals court also acquits four "tattoo killers" of 2009 murder
Image
Dutch police station.
Widower files charges against psychiatric clinic over wife's murder by patient
Image
An Anopheles stephensi mosquito, which can transmit malaria to humans when biting them. 2004
Sweltering heat sparked surge in insects in North Holland
Make NL Times your top Google source

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Prisoner sets cell on fire at PI Vught
  • Dutch employers outside tech sector increasingly seek workers skilled in AI
  • Merwedebrug truck ban won’t be the last as Dutch bridges, tunnels age
  • Number of startups rises in 10 of 12 Dutch provinces as closures and bankruptcies fall
  • Eindhoven students build solar-powered ambulance to bring medical care to remote areas

Top stories

  • Prisoner sets cell on fire at PI Vught
  • Thialf ice skating stadium hit by ransomware attack
  • Romanian gang considered Amsterdam sex workers their property; Exploited dozens of women
  • Netherlands to implement points system for unsafe driving
  • New U.S. import tariffs: Netherlands facing 10% along with other EU Member States

© 2012-2026, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Change Privacy Settings
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Partner Content