Cops on the hunt for ‘doctor’

ELIASER NDEYANALE and HILENI NEMBWAYA POLICE in the Ohangwena region are looking for a 27-year-old man who is accused of theft and scamming people in Windhoek and the north.

Ohangwena regional crime investigations coordinator deputy commissioner Zacharia Amakali last week confirmed to that the man, who claims to be Dr Wilson First Schweinsteiger Iiyambo, is wanted by the police.

Amakali said he is wanted in connection with four charges of theft under false presences, involving trailers, which he allegedly rented from people without returning them.

Several cases of theft have also been registered against him in the north and in Windhoek.

According to a woman who exposed the man’s dealings on social media on Wednesday last week, the man is a “crook, con artist and criminal”.

“Be aware, especially girls. He lies and pretends to be a doctor,” the woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, said last week.

She said she met ‘Iiyambo’ in February this year.

“We have been talking for a while. He was very convincing, he told me he is a doctor … We kept talking and meeting up too. One day he told me he lost his wallet, and then he asked me to send N$500 to some girl at his farm at Rundu. He told me he would refund me N$700 when he got home because he was at work. I told him I did not have money,” the woman said.

On 3 April this year, the woman discovered money was transferred from her bank account.

When she went to the bank, she says she was told a man used her card number to transfer N$3 700 from her account.

The woman says ‘Iiyambo’ claimed to have lived in Russia for 20 years, and that he has Russian citizenship.

Meanwhile, other young women have allegedly been in romantic relationships with the allerged con artist, according to social media comments.

“He told me he is a doctor at Rhino Park and wanted to buy me a car … He asked me for a deposit and said he would add the rest for me,” another social media user said.

‘Iiyambo’ seems to have a preference for women with apartments, good jobs and cars. He claims to have studied medicine at a Ukrainian university.

Residents of the Iinga-panda village in the Omusati region claim the man is from this village and is not a medical doctor.

One of the residents, who prefers to remain anonymous, says the man studied office administration at the Development Aid from People to People Vocational Training Centre near Outapi.

“He did not study medicine. He completed his Grade 12 at Niilo Taapopi Secondary School at Okahao. From there he went to DAPP Vocational Training Centre,” the villager, who claims to have known the suspect since childhood, said.

Amakali said the suspect has not been apprehended and the police in the region are “at work trying to arrest him”.

Amakali said the suspect is rumoured to be hiding at Ondangwa, and that the police in the Oshana and Ohangwena regions have joined forces to arrest him.

He urged community members to report the man’s whereabouts to their nearest police station.

“People should avoid harming or apprehending this suspect on their own,” he said.

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