The two men who were arrested for allegedly kidnapping and extorting a female victim at NaTIS in Windhoek were remanded in custody yesterday.
They appeared in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court and the case posponed pending police investigations.
The incident occurred on Friday afternoon at NaTIS’s Northern Industrial area premises when the two suspects, Henry Kaukungwa and Stefanus Teodor, allegedly held a woman hostage in their car and forced her to give them N$20 000 from her bank account.
According to the information gathered by the Khomas police, the victim came to NaTIS and started complaining about long queues to pay as she was in a hurry before she was approached by the suspects masquerading as police officers offering to help her.
The suspects convinced the victim to get in their vehicle for further discussion on how they can fast-track the process of her getting help. They allegedly kept her hostage from around 09h00 to 13h00 in their car.
The Khomas police spokesperson Silas Shipandeni said the suspects, after demanding the N$20 000 from the victim, managed to get N$5 000 from her account that was withdrawn through two amounts of N$2 500 each.
“While busy with a transaction on her phone. She managed to notify her friend who notified the police and acted upon it by going straight to the bank with details and freezing all her accounts. The police later managed to rescue the lady and arrest the suspects,” said Shipandeni.
Shipandeni said the men are charged with kidnapping, extortion, impersonating a police officer and assault through threatening.
“The suspects then drove around with the complainant/victim and forced her to go withdraw
a large amount inside the bank but the suspects got arrested at FNB Northern Industrial area after the police were tipped off about the incident.
The money was also recovered from the suspects. The investigation further revealed that these suspects have used three different cars during the kidnapping and well known criminals in commissioning similar cases,” he indicated.
The matter is remanded to 18 August for the arrest of other suspects and further police investigations.