ABUJA, Nigeria — A British businessman kidnapped last week in an upmarket district of Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos has been released, Britain's Foreign Office website said on Thursday.

Kidnapping of expatriates by armed gangs seeking ransom money has long been rife in Nigeria's oil producing southeast but is rare in Lagos where most foreigners live.

"A British national was kidnapped on Victoria Island, Lagos on 23 March (and was) subsequently released on 27 March," a statement on the British website said.

Nigerian police said last week the man was trailed on his way back from a nightclub at around 11 p.m. on Saturday in the high-end residential and business neighborhood.

A security source, who asked not to be named, said the Briton works for an oil company.

In Nigeria's mainly Muslim north, kidnappings of foreigners for ideological motives by Islamist groups have taken a deadlier turn. Militant group Ansaru killed seven foreign hostages this month, authorities from some of the affected countries said.