Evans
Details are emerging about the numerous criminal activities of the Nigerian millionaire kidnapper, Chukwudi Dumem Onuamadkie, who was arrested on June 10, 2017 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria while attempting to leave that country.
According to reports, the suspect, who also bears the name Evans, started his criminal life as an armed robber at the age of 16 and ventured into kidnapping in 2009.
Reports said he was found to be in possession of a Ghanaian passport upon his arrest.
A visiting Nigerian Inspector of Police, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris, announced the arrest of 36-year-old Evans, saying that Nigerians were celebrating upon hearing that the kidnapper had been nabbed.
DAILY GUIDE gathered that Evans, a native of Anambra State in Southern Nigeria, was Nigeria’s most wanted kidnapper prior to his arrest.
The suspect, in some of his operations, allegedly used two separate gangs to conduct kidnappings, with one gang responsible for carrying out the abduction and another for transferring the victim to a “safe house.”
Evans allegedly extracted millions of dollars as ransom from families of victims he kept in captivity sometimes for up to seven months.
According to reports, on June 10, as police raided a Lagos property belonging to the kidnapper, a gun battle ensued with the suspect and his associates.
Security forces eventually overpowered them and arrested seven people in the operation, while also seizing 10 guns and more than 1,000 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, DAILY GUIDE gathered.
That was after Evans and his gangs had reportedly held captive a successful Nigerian pharmacist and owner of Maydon Pharmaceutical Company at Ilupeju, Lagos, Donatus Dunu on Valentine’s Day, this year and accordingly demanded about one €1million or 500 million naira from his family.
The suspect refused to take an amount 100 million naira to release the victim.
The wife of the victim, according media reports in Nigeria, while looking for the money, decided to organize a prayer session for her husband with staff of their company.
At the gang’s den in New Igando, where Dunu was kept, he had reportedly given up hope on the possibility of regaining his freedom.
But media reports say the victim had a big break in the early hours of Friday, May 12, 2017, while his captors were deep asleep.
“Despite losing weight, Dunu managed to wriggle out of the leg-cuff he was held with. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and white singlet. A perimeter fence with broken bottles was to become a major obstacle to his escape, but the victim used his bare hand to maneuver the shattered bottles and climbed his way to freedom,” according to reports.
It was learnt that when he landed into an adjoining building, he was mistaken for a fleeing robber or cultist.
Extravagant Life
The suspect had reportedly been implicated in a series of high-profile kidnapping in Nigeria, and mainly targeted foreigners, traditional rulers and wealthy businessmen, which made him one of Nigeria’s wealthiest alleged criminals.
He allegedly owns two mansions in an up-market district of Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial hub, as well as two properties in Accra, the capital of Ghana.
One of his Lagos mansions cost about 130 million naira and he used about 40 million naira for its furnishing, with imported furniture mainly from Italy and Jacuzzi.
By Melvin Tarlue