A Canadian woman kidnapped over a week ago in northern Nigeria is still being held, officials say, hours after police said she had been released.

一位加拿大妇女在尼日利亚北部被绑架超过一周，警方表明她已经被释放，但随后几个小时，官员称其仍被拘禁。

Julie Mulligan, 45, was seized from a car by gunmen in Kaduna on 16 April.

A police spokesman earlier told the BBC she was in the custody¹ of（在……监护之下） the security services, but the police later said Mrs Mulligan had not been freed.

A spokesman added that one of the gang who kidnapped Mrs Mulligan had been arrested and was in custody.

It is the first time a foreign woman has been kidnapped and held for ransom²（赎金） in Nigeria outside the restive³（倔强的） oil-producing Niger Delta⁴ region.

Mrs Mulligan, a financial services consultant⁵ from Alberta, was travelling from a meeting with a friend when gunmen stopped their car and seized her.

Health fears

The kidnappers⁶ had said Mrs Mulligan was sick.

She had spoken to journalists on the phone since her kidnap and said she was afraid of getting malaria⁷（疟疾）.

Local media reported her kidnappers had demanded 20m naira ($135,823; £92,000) to release her.

Kidnappings for ransom are common in the southern Niger Delta region, where militants⁸ and street gangs target wealthy Nigerians and foreign oil workers.

But this is the first time a foreigner has been kidnapped in the north of the country.