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| Kidnapped Victim, Zara (Photo Credit: Vanguard) |
Zara Mohammed,27, a full-time house wife and a nursing
mother ,left her home at Dolphin Estate, dressed georgeously to attend her
friend’s baby naming ceremony at Ijeh barracks, but little did she know that
she would be mistaken for a millionaire’s wife and kidnapped on her way back
home by a woman who offered her a ride at the entrance to her Estate.
Crime Guard gathered that the victim, who relocated to Lagos
after she got married to her husband in Maiduguri in 2010, had two children
including a six-month-old baby before she was kidnapped. Continue..
Narrating his wife’s ordeal after her release, Mr. Mohammed,
told Crime Guard that on April 25, 2015, at about 2pm, she left their house
located at Corporation drive, 189b, Dolphin Estate, to attend a friend’s child
naming ceremony at Ijeh barracks. According to him, that was the last time he
heard from her. “After waiting till 10pm, and she didn’t return, I called her
line but it was switched off. I went to the venue of the naming ceremony.
“Unfortunately, it was dark and I could not locate the
place. The next morning, I went back and was able to locate the house of the
celebrant. Surprisingly, my wife’s friend, the host of the ceremony, told me
that she attended the ceremony but left almost immediately after giving her
baby a gift. She, however, took me to some other friends’ houses to see if my
wife had passed the night there but, it was an exercise in futility as none of
them had any clue about her whereabouts. At last, I went to Dolphin Estate
Divisional Police station to report that my wife was missing.
“The following day, I received a call from a number that
claimed they had kidnapped her and requested that I should bring N10 million
ransom to Allen bus stop at Ikeja, Lagos.
I told them that I wanted to speak
with my wife to be sure that they actually kidnapped her. It was then I asked
her how she got kidnapped. She said it
was when she was returning from the naming ceremony that she was kidnapped .
While she was still talking with me, the line went off. I tried severally to
call back but it was switched off.
“When I realised that it was a kidnap case, I notified the
police who transferred the case to the State Criminal Investigations
Department, Panti,Yaba, Lagos, for further investigation. On April 27, 2015, the kidnappers called me
with my wife’s number and I told them I won’t be able to raise that amount
because I am a security man in Dolphin Estate with a monthly salary of N20,000.
Immediately, the phone went dead.
“Few days later, I was shocked to see her in our house in
Lagos. It was then that she narrated what actually happened to me.” This is her
story. ” I was on my way back to the house and when I got to the entrance of
the estate, a woman driving a red Gulf car stopped and asked if I was going
into the estate and I said yes.
She then offered to give me and two other men
who were also at the entrance, a ride. I accepted the gesture and boarded the
vehicle because the driver was a fellow woman and I didn’t suspect any danger because
she looked so innocent and harmless little knowing that the two men were her
partners in crime.
“As soon as we boarded the car, one of the men used a white
handkerchief to cover my face and then I became unconscious. When I regained
consciousness, I found myself in a room with my hands and legs tied. Inside the
room I met a woman who alleged she was abducted with her daughter. She
complained that since they kidnapped them, she hasn’t seen her daughter. Two
days later, they took her away and I was left alone in the room.
“The next day, they called my husband and requested for N10
million ransom. After they finished
talking with my husband, they gave me the phone to speak with him. I was still
explaining to him in our dialect what happened when they took the phone from me
and switched it off. The next day, they called him with my phone but they
didn’t allow me to speak with him. While there, I was given a plate of rice to
eat and pure water to drink.
“A week later, I was dumped in a farm after they realised
that my husband, a mere security man, could not pay the amount they demanded. I
couldn’t move because of my tied legs. All I could do was to cry and shout to
alert anyone nearby. I was in the bush crying when a Good Samaritan heard my
voice and came to my rescue.
He asked me what happened and why my hands and
legs were tied. I told him that some people kidnapped me on my way to Dolphin
Estate and he asked, Dolphin Estate in Lagos? I said yes. It was then he told
me that I was in Lokoja,Kogi State and not Lagos. That was when I realised how
far away I was from Lagos.
“He untied me and then took me to the nearest motor park
where I would board a vehicle to Lagos.
He paid N2000 to the driver as my transportation fare and explained to
the driver and other park officials what had happened to me.”
The traumatized husband told Crime Guard, “I thank God for
rescuing my wife from the hands of kidnappers. But ,the problem right now is
that since her release, she behaves abnormally. I don’t know what her abductors
did to her. She acts funny and very different from herself. I have concluded
plans to take her to my home town in Borno State for proper medical
treatment,”he stated.
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