Extortion suspect gives himself up

THE last member of a gang suspected of extorting more than half a million dollars from an elderly Swakopmund resident handed himself over to the Police on Friday.

The Police last week called on the public for help in tracing Jesaja Naukosho.Naukosho appeared on charges of impersonating a Police officer, extortion, kidnapping and theft, alternatively being found in possession of stolen property, in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on Monday.He was denied bail, and is set to make a second court appearance with eight co-accused men on March 26.It is alleged that Naukosho and his co-accused last year set up and executed a plan to lure their elderly victim into buying illegal stones from them, before other members of the group emerged, passing themselves off as Police officers.They allegedly extorted bribes from the man on various occasions, and it is alleged that they further kidnapped him from his home and forced him to stay in a Windhoek lodge while they extorted the money from him.The matter, it is believed, was uncovered when the victim’s children noticed their father’s uneasiness and took the case to the authorities.The gang, Police said last week, were in possession of sophisticated forgeries of Police identification cards and claimed to be part of the Namibian Police’s Protected Resources Unit.Naukosho was already supposed to appear in court on September 23 2008, and thus faces a further charge of contempt of court.Police officers said Naukosho was the last suspect wanted in connection with this particular extortion case, but more arrests could not be ruled out.denver@namibian.com.na