Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers who abducted 80-year-old retired army Major, Azum Asoya and his 55-year-old wife, Elizabeth, have reportedly sent two fingers suspected to be those of their captives to their distraught family in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State.
Abductors of the Asoyas who kidnapped them on November 30 at Okpanam while on theirway home from a burial ceremony in another part of the town, had allegedly opened negotiation with their family members, demanding a ransom of N30 million.
Following inability of the victims’ family to raise the amount, it was gathered that the kidnappers threatened to eliminate their captives. It was suspected that the hoodlums might have made good their threat when they purportedly cut-off the fingers of the victims and delivered same to the family.
A close family member who asked not to be named in print, confirmed that the fingers were indeed delivered to their house, adding that the kidnappers actually sent a message along with the fingers threatening severe action should the family members refuse to pay the princely sum soonest.
But he added that the N30 million which the abductors originally demanded had been reduced to N9 million, an amount which he said the family could not still cough out.
“We are just a struggling family and don’t have that huge sum of money. They should please set them free. We can’t afford even the N9 million they are demanding. They should have pity on the old man and his wife and set them free,” he said.
Contacted, the Delta State Police Public Relations, ASP Lucky Uyabeme who confirmed the story, said his men were closing in on the hoodlums and will soon get at them.
But he expressed doubt that the parceled fingers were actually those of Asoya and his wife, adding that only medical examination will determine the veracity of the fingers as there was a remote possibility that the fingers were those of dead people whom the hoodlums probably dug from the grave.
Uyabame maintained that the hoodlums might have resorted to such bestiality to send shivers to the spines of the distraught family so that they could rush to go and pay ransom, urging the family not to yield to the threat as his men were hot on the trail of the kidnappers.
The Asoyas were about entering their Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) when the gunmen who had apparently laid ambush swooped on them and bundled them into the car, shooting sporadically into the air as they zoomed off to an unknown destination with another car trailing behind.