By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
An American woman abducted in central Nigeria has been freed, police confirmed on Saturday.
"Phyllis Sortor has been released by her kidnappers and she has been reunited with relevant authorities including the mission body she works for," police spokesman in Kogi Sola Adebayo told The Anadolu Agency.
He denied knowledge of any ransom paid for freeing the U.S. hostage, although her abductors had demanded for $306,122 to release her.
Sortor was working as a Christian missionary when she was kidnapped from the compound housing the Hope Academy in the central Kogi State late February.
Ishaya Isa Chonoko, coordinator for the National Emergency Management Agency in Kogi, also confirmed Sortor's release.
"Information with us suggests that Ms Sortor has now been reunited with her people but I do not have details of how she was released," Chonoko told AA.
The American embassy in Nigeria could not be reached for comment.
Abduction is increasingly becoming a security crisis in many parts of Nigeria, with captives often released in exchange for handsome ransom.
The phenomenon is rampant in Nigeria's south where loose groups of criminals survive on abducting rich people or expatriates.
Nigeria's Boko Haram is also notorious for kidnapping - some reportedly for ransom from which it earns revenue.
