Four Turkish nationals have been kidnapped in western Nigeria and police are conducting a rescue operation, a state police spokesman said on Sunday.

“Four Turkish expatriates were kidnapped at a drinking spot in Gbale village in the Edu local government area of Kwara State,” said Okasanmi Ajayi, spokesman for Kwara state police.

A rescue operation has been launched to find the Turkish nationals and arrest the kidnappers, the spokesman said.

The incident was reported around 11:30 p.m. local time on Saturday, he said.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said it had no further information.

On Tuesday, 10 Turkish sailors were taken hostage by armed pirates who attacked a Turkish-flagged cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria.

The Kwara command of Nigeria Police however confirmed that the gang of suspected kidnappers on Saturday night abducted the foreign nationals along Gbugbu-Lafiagi Road in the Edu Local Government area of Kwara.

DSP Ajayi Okasanmi, the Public Relations Officer of the command confirmed the incident to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)in Gbugbu on Sunday.

Okasanmi gave names of the gang members as Seyit Keklik (25), Yasin Colak (33), Ergun Yurdakul (35), and Senerapal (40).

The abducted expatriates were working at a quarry site located within the area.

However a source told NAN that they were on their way back from Gbugbu Market, where they had gone to buy energy drinks, to Gbale, a village where the quarry is located.

According to the source, the kidnappers waylaid them and took them to an unknown destination.

The nationality of the expatriates could not be ascertained as the source identified them as Palestinians while another said they were Turkish citizens.

The police spokesman said that efforts had begun to rescue the abductees and it was already yielding positive results.

(NAN)