Maiduguri — Malam Umar Baba Mai Salati, the administrative manager of the Borno Floor Mills was kidnapped in Maiduguri yesterday.

Witnesses said Mai Salati was picked at gunpoint while on his way home shortly after he left office.

It was gathered that the kidnappers, who are in their early 20s hid their rifles beneath their cloth and pretended as if they were waiting for someone outside the gate of the company at Jajeri, area in the state capital.

"Shortly after he (Mai Salati) came out of the company around 6.15pm, one of the three assailants pointed a gun at him and told him to stop. It was then that all the three gunmen entered his car and directed him to zoom off," a witness said.

A top security source in Maiduguri confirmed the incident, saying efforts are being made to track down the kidnappers.

"Kidnapping is the latest challenge we are witnessing in Maiduguri," he said.

Our correspondent reports that in the last one month, more than six prominent businessmen have been kidnapped in Maiduguri.

However, reliable sources said most of them were released after their families paid ransom.