Fake policemen kidnap 69-yr-old man, demand N50M ransom

A 69-year-old businessman, Basil Agha, has been kidnapped by men who disguised themselves as police officers, at his country home in Umuofor village, Orlu Local Government Area of Imo State.

Punch reports that Agha, a fuel supplier based in Lagos State, only traveled home renovate his house ahead of the Christmas season pending when his family members in Lagos would come home for the celebration.

It was gathered that Agha was seeing off an electrician when the attackers stormed the compound and abducted him.

Speaking on the abduction of his father, one of his sons, Ikenna, said the kidnappers later contacted the family members and demanded N50 million as ransom, adding that they eventually paid them a total sum of N2.6 million when efforts by the police to rescue his father proved abortive.

“He was kidnapped on Friday, October 28, 2016, inside his compound around 1pm. The kidnappers told him that they were from the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department and ordered him to follow them into a waiting vehicle.

I told my brother who broke the news to me on the phone that we didn’t have any issue with anybody. On Sunday, they called me and demanded N50 million ransom.

My relatives reported at the Orlu Police Station and I also submitted a petition at the Federal SARS in Adeniji Adele.

Five policemen from the Federal SARS followed me to Orlu. But for the six days that we spent in Owerri, the kidnappers did not call me again. On November 9, we came back to Lagos and they called again.

I negotiated with them and we agreed on N2.5 million. They asked me to drop the money somewhere in Onitsha and promised to release him the following day.

After dropping the money, we waited throughout the day, but he was not released. Two days after, they asked for another N2 million. We negotiated and they reduced it to N500,000.

I said I could only afford N100,000 and they agreed. They called me with my father’s number. On November 14, I told my brother in Owerri to take the money to where we dropped the N2.5 million.

Since they collected the N100,000, I have not received any call from them. I have gone back to the Federal SARS. They said they were communicating with the DPO, Orlu division.”

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Ikenna has called on the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, and other security agents to come to the family's aid and rescue his father as the family does not know if he is still alive or has been killed.