A U.S. citizen who had been lured to Benin, in West Africa, by criminals he met online has been freed by security forces, Reuters reported.

"The kidnappers are in the hands of the police," said Frank Kinninvo, a spokesman from Benin’s interior ministry, according to Reuters. The American was found in the Mono region in the southwestern part of the country.

Officials, who did not identify the U.S. national, said he had traveled to Benin to meet people from there and Nigeria. He was abducted and forced to ask his family for a ransom payment, according to Reuters. The Reuters source said the kidnappers were not tied to pirates that operate in the region.

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On Tuesday, the U.S. Embassy in Cotonou, Benin released a statement about the kidnapping.

“The U.S. Embassy in Cotonou has no reason to believe that other U.S. citizens or interests are at risk,” the statement said. “All U.S. citizens are encouraged to remain conscious of their personal security.”

Kidnappings of foreigners are rare in Benin, a French-speaking country of about 9 million people, although there have been several abductions in Nigeria this year.

Report: American kidnapped in Benin lured by contacts made on Internet

There have been several other cases in the last two years of foreigners who were kidnapped in West Africa after making contacts on the Internet.

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A U.S. citizen kidnapped in Benin was lured to the West African country by criminals the American met online, sources told Reuters new agency Wednesday.

A kidnapping notice was first posted Tuesday on the U.S. Embassy in Cotonou’s website, but officials did not identify the victim.

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Embassy officials have "no reason to believe that other U.S. citizens or interests are at risk," said the post. "The investigation is ongoing, and there are no further details at this time."

A security source told Reuters the kidnap victim was a man who had traveled to the country last week to meet a group of people from Benin and neighboring Nigeria, Reuters reported. He was abducted and then forced to contact his family to ask for a ransom payment, the source in Benin said.

There were no apparent links to Islamist groups or pirates operating in the region, the source said.

Francine Ochabi, the press attachè for Benin's president, told The Associated Press she was not aware of the kidnapping and that the government had no comment.

An embassy spokeswoman declined to provide any further information.

Kidnappings of foreigners are rare in Benin, a French-speaking country of about 9 million people, but there have been several abductions in Nigeria this year.

A number of foreigners have been kidnapped in West Africa over the past two years after making contacts on the Internet.

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LAGOS, Nigeria -- Pirates off Nigeria's coast attacked a cargo ship Monday, killings its captain and chief engineer in the increasingly dangerous waters of the Gulf of Guinea on the west coast of Africa, officials said.

"All crew except the bridge team took shelter in the citadel. Due to the continuous firing the captain and the chief engineer were shot," a notice on the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) official said.

The captain and chief engineer died of their wounds as the pirates sprayed the ship with gunfire, said Cyrus Mody, an official at the bureau.

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Mody said the bureau had yet to receive additional information about the ship and its crew, though they did contact authorities in Nigeria. A spokesman for Nigeria's navy and the nation's maritime safety agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday.

The killings come as another ship nearby was attacked this weekend and pirates hijacked a tanker ship off the coast of neighboring Benin on Thursday, according to the maritime bureau.

Pirates off the coast of Nigeria tend to raid ships for cash and cargo rather than hijacking the crews for ransom like their counterparts off the coast of Somalia.

The frequency of attacks, while not as high as off the Somali coast or surrounding Indian Ocean, is on the rise.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.