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How I paid $1m ransom to Evans: Witness
News & Trends •
he said they were made to drive round anambra from awka to ozubulu also to ekwuluobia and the environs until they were asked to stop at oba2 a witness izuchukwu ezeuko on thursday told an igbosere high court in lagos how he dropped 1 million dollar ransom for the alleged kidnap kingpin chukwudumeme onwuamadike popularly known as evans2 ezeuko a manager in udujis firm made the revelation while giving evidence at the ongoing trial of evans2 the manager who was the fifth witness in the trial said he agreed to travel from lagos to the south east to drop the ransom in order to save his boss life2 evans is facing two separate charges bordering on conspiracy to kidnap kidnapping and attempted murder before justice adedayo akintoye2 in the first charge evans is standing trial alongside joseph emeka ugochukwu nwachukwu and victor aduba2 in the second charge he is standing trial alongside joseph emeka linus okpara and victor aduba2 at the resumed trial of the case on thursday ezeuko narrated how he paid one million dollar ransom in two tranches of 800 000 and 200000 dollars to the kidnappers of his employer2 the witness said that on sept. 7 2015 his employer came to the factory at agbara as usual2 according to him at 5.00 p.m. he got a call that his employer who had left the factory for home was kidnapped2 however after some weeks of the alleged kidnap on oct. 10 2015 he got a call from a private number who said he should speak with his boss2 my boss then spoke to me and said if i want him alive i should go to the east to deliver money to the alleged kidnappers2 i went to festac town and met mr edwin uduji the victims brother who arranged the first 800 000 dollars for me to travel with2 on october 11 i drove to the east with the victims elder sister and in the east a voice gave us instructions on how to drop the money ezeuko said2 the ransom was to save mr. james uduji then held hostage by evans2 it was at oba that the voice asked the victims sister to come down from the vehicle with the money2 the voice directed her to an uncompleted building where she dropped the money. it was dark so we did not see the person who picked the money ezeuko told the court2 he said two weeks after the 800 000 dollar ransom was dropped and the kidnappers released his boss2 however towards the end of october his boss asked him to take another 200 000 dollars to the kidnappers because the kidnappers were still threatening his life2 ezeuko said he took the money down to east and was asked to drop it on the onitsha expressway by the voice that gave him instructions2 however during cross-examination counsel to evans mr olarewaju ajanaku asked ezeuko if he informed the police that such ransom was to be paid or gave the call logs of the person he interacted with the to the police2 the witness said he did not inform the police about the ransom before paying and did not give the call logs to the police2 however another witness sgt. kingsley harold gave evidence concerning the first charge in which evans is standing trial alongside joseph emeka ugochukwu nwachukwu and victor aduba over the kidnap of mr donatus2 harold said after evans was arrested he was asked to make a statement at the special anti-robbery squad sars office in ikeja but evans said he was not too good in writing2 he said evans however asked him to write the statement for him adding that the statement was recorded in an open office in the presence of senior police officers and other people who came to the office for other cases2 he said the statement was recorded in a conducive environment between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm adding that the defendant was cautioned before making the statement2 however the defendant s counsel opposed the admissibility of such statement and a trial-within-trial was conducted to ascertain the admissibility of such evidence2 after listening to the arguments justice akintoye adjourned until oct. 8 for continuation of trial2 -
How I paid $1m ransom to Evans: Witness
News & Trends •
he said they were made to drive round anambra from awka to ozubulu also to ekwuluobia and the environs until they were asked to stop at oba2 a witness izuchukwu ezeuko on thursday told an igbosere high court in lagos how he dropped 1 million dollar ransom for the alleged kidnap kingpin chukwudumeme onwuamadike popularly known as evans2 ezeuko a manager in udujis firm made the revelation while giving evidence at the ongoing trial of evans2 the manager who was the fifth witness in the trial said he agreed to travel from lagos to the south east to drop the ransom in order to save his boss life2 evans is facing two separate charges bordering on conspiracy to kidnap kidnapping and attempted murder before justice adedayo akintoye2 in the first charge evans is standing trial alongside joseph emeka ugochukwu nwachukwu and victor aduba2 in the second charge he is standing trial alongside joseph emeka linus okpara and victor aduba2 at the resumed trial of the case on thursday ezeuko narrated how he paid one million dollar ransom in two tranches of 800 000 and 200000 dollars to the kidnappers of his employer2 the witness said that on sept. 7 2015 his employer came to the factory at agbara as usual2 according to him at 5.00 p.m. he got a call that his employer who had left the factory for home was kidnapped2 however after some weeks of the alleged kidnap on oct. 10 2015 he got a call from a private number who said he should speak with his boss2 my boss then spoke to me and said if i want him alive i should go to the east to deliver money to the alleged kidnappers2 i went to festac town and met mr edwin uduji the victims brother who arranged the first 800 000 dollars for me to travel with2 on october 11 i drove to the east with the victims elder sister and in the east a voice gave us instructions on how to drop the money ezeuko said2 the ransom was to save mr. james uduji then held hostage by evans2 it was at oba that the voice asked the victims sister to come down from the vehicle with the money2 the voice directed her to an uncompleted building where she dropped the money. it was dark so we did not see the person who picked the money ezeuko told the court2 he said two weeks after the 800 000 dollar ransom was dropped and the kidnappers released his boss2 however towards the end of october his boss asked him to take another 200 000 dollars to the kidnappers because the kidnappers were still threatening his life2 ezeuko said he took the money down to east and was asked to drop it on the onitsha expressway by the voice that gave him instructions2 however during cross-examination counsel to evans mr olarewaju ajanaku asked ezeuko if he informed the police that such ransom was to be paid or gave the call logs of the person he interacted with the to the police2 the witness said he did not inform the police about the ransom before paying and did not give the call logs to the police2 however another witness sgt. kingsley harold gave evidence concerning the first charge in which evans is standing trial alongside joseph emeka ugochukwu nwachukwu and victor aduba over the kidnap of mr donatus2 harold said after evans was arrested he was asked to make a statement at the special anti-robbery squad sars office in ikeja but evans said he was not too good in writing2 he said evans however asked him to write the statement for him adding that the statement was recorded in an open office in the presence of senior police officers and other people who came to the office for other cases2 he said the statement was recorded in a conducive environment between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm adding that the defendant was cautioned before making the statement2 however the defendant s counsel opposed the admissibility of such statement and a trial-within-trial was conducted to ascertain the admissibility of such evidence2 after listening to the arguments justice akintoye adjourned until oct. 8 for continuation of trial2