New criminal kidnap scam in Windhoek

A WOMAN was kidnapped from a Windhoek shopping mall on Tuesday, dragged into a car and held by her kidnappers until her family paid them more than N$3 000 in ransom.

The Police are investigating the kidnapping, which happened at the Mutual Platz shopping mall. Windhoek was buzzing about the news yesterday, after the victim’s husband circulated an e-mail on Tuesday warning others of what had happened to his eight-month pregnant wife earlier that day.An earlier e-mail stated that the kidnapping happened at the Wernhil Park shopping centre, but this was later corrected by the woman’s husband.When The Namibian yesterday interviewed the woman, she asked to remain anonymous because she feared another attack on her.She said she had been shopping in a clothing store in the Mutual Platz building, when suddenly she was approached by a woman who demanded she hand over N$240 in cash.Accompanying the woman, she said, was a man who came up from behind and apparently shoved an unknown object into her back.”I don’t know whether it was a gun or a knife,” she said, adding that she was ordered to co-operate.She didn’t have that much money on her, she said, but told her attackers that she could get it from her mother, who was a few blocks away, shopping at Pick ‘n Pay in Wernhil Park.The two then ordered her to phone her mother from her cellphone and tell her that someone would come to collect N$240 from her at the Pick ‘n Pay cashiers’ point.”She [the mother] didn’t know what was going on.I just told her I was in trouble and needed the money,” the victim said yesterday.The woman who had demanded the money was the one who went to collect the money from her mother, she said.After it was confirmed that the money had been handed over to his accomplice, the male suspect ordered his victim to walk with him to the taxi rank in Frans Indongo Street, where they had a car waiting.”I was told to keep my head down.I honestly can’t say what car it was, or even how many people they were.All I know is that he was talking with someone, so there were more than one in the car,” she said.The car then drove off and parked near the Windhoek Police station in Bahnhof Street, she said.There, the men again gave her her cellphone to call her mother, and demanded another N$3 000.Her mother complied, again not knowing what it was for, she said, and came to hand over the money to her daughter.”I was made to get out of the car and collect the money.When I got to my mother, she told me to come with her but I said ‘no, they’re watching me’,” she said.Her mother gave her the money and left, picking up her daughter a few minutes later in front of the offices of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Independence Avenue.The victim said her kidnappers rifled through her handbag, but didn’t take anything.The family registered a criminal case and gave their statements to the Police yesterday.A manager at the Mutual Platz shop where the woman was taken said yesterday that they did not have the slightest idea of the incident.The shop does not have surveillance cameras, the manager said.Windhoek was buzzing about the news yesterday, after the victim’s husband circulated an e-mail on Tuesday warning others of what had happened to his eight-month pregnant wife earlier that day.An earlier e-mail stated that the kidnapping happened at the Wernhil Park shopping centre, but this was later corrected by the woman’s husband.When The Namibian yesterday interviewed the woman, she asked to remain anonymous because she feared another attack on her.She said she had been shopping in a clothing store in the Mutual Platz building, when suddenly she was approached by a woman who demanded she hand over N$240 in cash.Accompanying the woman, she said, was a man who came up from behind and apparently shoved an unknown object into her back.”I don’t know whether it was a gun or a knife,” she said, adding that she was ordered to co-operate. She didn’t have that much money on her, she said, but told her attackers that she could get it from her mother, who was a few blocks away, shopping at Pick ‘n Pay in Wernhil Park.The two then ordered her to phone her mother from her cellphone and tell her that someone would come to collect N$240 from her at the Pick ‘n Pay cashiers’ point.”She [the mother] didn’t know what was going on.I just told her I was in trouble and needed the money,” the victim said yesterday.The woman who had demanded the money was the one who went to collect the money from her mother, she said.After it was confirmed that the money had been handed over to his accomplice, the male suspect ordered his victim to walk with him to the taxi rank in Frans Indongo Street, where they had a car waiting.”I was told to keep my head down.I honestly can’t say what car it was, or even how many people they were.All I know is that he was talking with someone, so there were more than one in the car,” she said.The car then drove off and parked near the Windhoek Police station in Bahnhof Street, she said.There, the men again gave her her cellphone to call her mother, and demanded another N$3 000.Her mother complied, again not knowing what it was for, she said, and came to hand over the money to her daughter.”I was made to get out of the car and collect the money.When I got to my mother, she told me to come with her but I said ‘no, they’re watching me’,” she said.Her mother gave her the money and left, picking up her daughter a few minutes later in front of the offices of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Independence Avenue.The victim said her kidnappers rifled through her handbag, but didn’t take anything.The family registered a criminal case and gave their statements to the Police yesterday.A manager at the Mutual Platz shop where the woman was taken said yesterday that they did not have the slightest idea of the incident.The shop does not have surveillance cameras, the manager said.

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