LAGOS DECEMBER 13RD (URHOBOTODAY)-Desperate to collect the N30 million ransom demanded, kidnappers of an 80-year-old Army Major, Azum Asoya (rtd), and his 55-year-old wife, Elizabeth, in Delta State, have parcelled their fingers to their kinsmen in Okpanam, Oshimili North Local Government Area of the state.
The octogenarian and his wife were abducted by a gang of dare devil kidnappers on November 30 while on their way home from a burial in another part of the town.
One of the victims’ kinsmen on Thursday confirmed that the purported two fingers were those of the old soldier and that of his wife.
The chopped off fingers, The Eagle online gathered, were delivered to the family house in the uptown area of Okpanam village.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, said that the N30 million, which the abductors originally demanded before releasing them unhurt, has been reduced to N9 million, an amount which he said “we could not still raise.”
The victims were about to enter their Sports Utility Vehicle when the hoodlums, who had apparently laid ambush, pounced on them and sandwiched them away in their car.
Eyewitness said they shot sporadically into the air to scare away any perceived enemy as they zoomed off to an unknown destination.
The source said the kidnappers had sent a message threatening severe retribution, should their kinsmen fail to yield to their demands.
In a melancholic mood, the family source said: “We are just a struggling family and don’t have that huge sum of money.
“They should please set my father and his wife free.
“We can’t afford even the N9 million they are demanding.
“They should pity the old man and his wife and set them free.”
The Police Public Relations Officer in Delta State, Lucky Uyabeme, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, however said his men were hot on the trail of the kidnappers, vowing that “we will soon get at them.”
Uyabeme said there was no way the police could ascertain if the fingers were actually those of the victims, adding: “Only medical examination will determine that.”
He said there is a possibility that the fingers are those of dead persons, which the hoodlums probably dug from the grave.