Kidnappers sends victims fingers to family in Delta

Two fingers suspected to be that of the
kidnapped 80-year-old retired army officer,
Major Azum Asoya and his 55-year-old wife,
Elizabeth have been reportedly parcelled to
the family in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local
Government Area of Delta State.
The Asoyas were kidnapped by gunmen on
November 30 at Okpanam while on their way home
from a burial ceremony in another part of the town.
The hoodlums had opened negotiation with the
family of the victim, demanding a ransom of N30
million but the family was said not to have been able
to raise the cash to placate the kidnappers.
The kidnappers were said to have threatened to
eliminate the victims if the money was not raised
and they might have made good their threat when
they purportedly cut-off the fingers of the victims
and delivered the same to the family.
A close family source confirmed yesterday that the
two fingers, purportedly those of the old soldier and
that of his wife, were delivered to the family house in
the uptown area.
The source, who pleaded not to be quoted, said 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.
According to the source, the kidnappers actually sent
a message along with the fingers threatening severe
retribution should the family members refused to
pay the money.
"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," the source pleaded.
When contacted, the Delta State Police Public
Relations, ASP Lucky Uyabeme, said his men were
closing in on the hoodlums and would soon get at
them.
Uyameme doubted if the parcelled fingers were
actually those of Asoya and his wife, adding that only
medical examination would 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.
He maintained that the hoodlums might have
resorted to such bestiality to send shivers down the
spines of the distraught family so that they could pay
the ransom, urging the family not to yield to the
threat, saying his men were hot on the trail of the
kidnappers.
(The sun)