Six people including three Catholic sisters who were kidnapped in November last year in Nigeria’s southern Edo state have been released, the Vanguard newspaper reports.

It quotes Sister Agatha Osarekhoe, the head sister at the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Convent, confirming the release.

She said: “They are fine. They are receiving [a] medical check-up in a hospital.”

The kidnappers had asked for a $54,000 (£40,000) ransom which Sister Osarekhoe said was not paid to secure the release:

“No ransom was paid. Well, we know that they [police] did their best because they are aware. They had to do their work. The most important thing is that our sisters are out.”

Commissioner of Police, Johnson Kokumo, is quoted as saying that that the women were released during an operation by security officers. He added that the “daredevil kidnappers” fled when the officers saw them.