A total of N800 million ransom was paid to secure the release of seven Kaduna train hostages on Saturday, it was revealed.
Families of the six Nigerian hostages paid N100m each, while the Pakistani’s paid N200 million.
Of the total N800 million, only N200 million was paid in local currency, the remaining N600 million was paid in US dollar denomination, according to a report by Daily Trust on Monday.
The release of the seven hostages was facilitated by a Kaduna based publisher, who negotiated their release, Malam Tukur Mamu.
Mr Mamu had earlier negotiated for the release of 11 passengers on June 11.
On March 28, the terrorists launched an attack on the AK9 train in Kaduna, killing nine persons, injuring 28 others and kidnapping 63 passengers. Three passengers were later freed.
The freed hostages were identified as Muhammad Daiyabu Paki, Bosede Olurotimi, Abubakar Zubairu, Alhassan Sule, Sadiq Ango Abdullahi, Aliyu Usman and Muhammad Abuzar Afzal, a Pakistani.
The newspaper quoted some of the hostages saying that the deadly train attack was a collaborative effort between bandits and ISWAP terrorists. They also confirmed that the terrorists were behind last week attack on Kuje Prison Abuja that freed over 800 inmates, including 68 high profile Boko Haram prisoners.
