France, Cameroun Paid N500m Ransom For Release Of Hostages?

French and Cameroonian negotiators may have paid the equivalent of $3.15m (about N500m) to Boko Haram for the release of a family of seven French hostages.

Reuters quotes a confidential report by the Nigerian government as saying that the ransom was paid to the group to secure the release of the family on April 19.

The memo does not say who paid the ransom for the family of seven, although it says Cameroon freed some Boko Haram detainees as part of the deal.

France and Cameroon reiterated denials that any ransom was paid. Nigerian authorities declined to comment.

Armed men on motorcycles snatched Tanguy Moulin-Fournier, his wife, brother and the couple’s four young children, the youngest of whom was four years old, on February 19 while they were on holiday near the Waza national park in north Cameroon, some 10 kilometres from the Nigerian border. They were believed to have been held in North-East Nigeria.