By Evelyn Usman
September 18,2021 was like every other day for 64-year-old Godfrey Zwalmark, a retired Army Captain, who worked as Chief Security Officer of a multinational company in Eleme, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He had gone to inspect the company’s pipeline at Agbonchaia area of Eleme, without an inkling that it would be his last day of performing that weekly routine.
Barely had he driven into the vast pipeline right of way than three strangers armed with two locally made guns, appeared and stood in his vehicle’s way.
They ordered Zwalmark to come out of the black Hilux van and join them in their operational motorbike. Only then did it occur to him that he had been kidnapped.
Unfortunately, he never lived to relate his ordeal in the kidnappers’ den as he was killed and his body dumped in a vast farmland at Igbo-Etche, in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Not done, the kidnappers contacted members of his family and his company demanding N200 million ransom.
Today, three members of the gang have been arrested by operatives of the Intelligence Response Team, IRT attached to the Force Investigative Bureau, led by the Commander, DCP Tunji Disu, in collaboration with policemen of the Rivers State Police Command.
Crime Guard gathered that the arrest of the trio of Frank Ishie,39; Iwuji Reginald, 36 and Gomba Okparaji, 34 followed a petition from the multinational company on its missing staff, to the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Alkali Usman Baba
On Wednesday, the suspects led the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police Command, CP Eboka Friday, DCP Disu, the Officers in-charge of IRT offices in Bayelsa and River states and other senior police officers to the spot where they dumped the body of the late CSO.
Crime guard observed that the body of the late Zwualmark had decomposed but his pair of black trouser was seen at the spot.
In an interview with the suspects who were paraded by CP Friday, they revealed how the deceased bled for ten hours after he was shot, before he died.
Suspected leader of the gang, Ishie, who hails from Utagba Ogbe Community in Kwale Ndokwa East Local Government Area of Delta State, admitted to have shot the late retired Army Captain in the leg, attributing loss of much blood to his death.
His confession: “One day, Gomba, (one of the suspects) called me on phone, informing me that he wanted to introduce a business to me.
“I drove down to Eleme to meet him. He told me he had someone to kidnap, that the man worked for Indorama, that he was a big man.
“He said his family would pay us N150 million if we kidnapped him. After the discussion, I left.
“Two days later, he called again to inform me that the man always came to inspect pipelines every Tuesday.
“On Monday, October 17, 2021, I went to meet Gomba a day before we kidnapped his client to survey the pipeline and plan the time to strike. Gomba told me the man usually came on Tuesday by 9 am.
“Gomba, the informant, told us he would contact us when the CSO would be coming.
“He took us to a bad spot and told us that was where we would attack the man because his driver would definitely slow down at the bad spot.
“He said he would stay at another end and contact us immediately he sighted him coming.
“He said if we saw any Hilux van after the call that we should attack the vehicle and drag him out of the black coloured vehicle sitting at the owner’s corner”.
The D-Day
“On October 18,2021, three of us got to the pipeline as early as 7am, waiting to strike. Few minutes to 9am, Gomba called to say the man was coming with his driver and we then positioned ourselves. Gomba was the one outside making the call while Blakie, myself and one other person were inside.
“As soon as the driver reached the spot, he slowed down, I then came out from the side of the road while this man( pointing at his alleged partner in crime) came out from the left hand side.
“When the driver alighted from the car and asked what was the problem, I told him we didn’t come for him, that he should run away. He left the car and ran away.
“The CSO also alighted and asked what was the problem, we told him we would tell him our mission when we got to where we were going.
“We asked him to climb the motorcycle. One of us rode the motorcycle while I sat behind the kidnapped CSO and the third person was in the front of the motorbike”.
Loss of blood
“After about 15 minutes ride, we saw some hunters on motorbikes. When they saw us approaching, the hunters tried to stop us but we didn’t stop and they followed us on their motorbikes.
“When our captive saw what was happening, he came down from the motorbike and refused to continue the journey.
“He wanted to create a scene. I then shot him in the leg and ordered him back to our motorbike.
“Thereafter, I fired a shot into the air to scare the hunters. By then, our captive was bleeding.
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“When we got to a lonely place and were sure the hunters were not coming after us, we removed one of our singlets to tie the CSO’s leg in order to stop the bleeding.
“One of us went to town to get malt and milk, mixed it and gave it to him. He was not comfortable and he requested for water.
“But we gave him malt and milk and kept rolling, on the ground, saying he didn’t have strength at all. He begged us to give him water again but there was no water.
“We tied the wound, waiting for nightfall. Along the line, the man started shivering and jerking as if he wanted to vomit, not knowing he was dying. Reginald then carried him and he died on him. He was shot at about 9.am and died by 7pm”.
Asked why they didn’t take him to the hospital, Ishie responded that, “we did not have police report or consent to do so. We waited until 8pm, before we took him in our bike and dumped him here (pointing at the spot)
Called family
Continuing, Ishie, who has been to jail for six months for allegedly impregnating a 13-year-old girl, said, “the next day, we scrolled through his phone and called one of his contacts who turned out to be his son. He demanded to have a video call with his father to be sure he was alive.
“I told him his father was shot but that he was still alive. He insisted he wanted to speak with him.
“They didn’t pay us a dime. They said the company insisted that they would not release money until they heard from Zwalmark”.
Other kidnaps
Ishei said he started kidnapping last year and mentioned one Adamu as the gang leader..
He said, “This year alone, we have kidnapped four people. The first one was at Rumuokoro, by fly over and the victim was a Yoruba man named Mohammed. We collected N500,000 from that kidnap.
“The second one was kidnapped at artillery. We collected N250,000 as ransom while the third person was kidnapped at Eleme and he paid N350,000”, he stated.
Captain Zwualmark was my boss — Informant
For 34-year-old Okparaji, he admitted to have given information about the retired military officer’s movement to the kidnappers but that the plan was never to kill him. Surprisingly, he described the deceased as his boss.
But when asked if he worked with him, he responded, “I am a bunkerer. Captain Zualmark was in charge of patrols of the pipeline where I siphoned crude oil.
“I would create a valve and connect hose that would transport crude oil to our drums whenever the company he worked for was pumping crude oil. But anytime I created it, he would destroy it and that cost money.
“After he destroyed the first one, someone gave me over N7 million to create the second and third valves, yet he destroyed them.
“Meanwhile, I used to give him money to look away from my illegalities but he would still destroy my valve saying it was better for me to lose my job than for him to lose his.
“I gave kidnappers information about him because I thought if we collected ransom for his release I would have cash to make up up for the money I lost to the destroyed valves.
“I didn’t know he was dead until I called to know if they had contacted his family for ransom. I couldn’t report his death to the police because I was scared”, he said.
The third suspect, Reginald, 38, who hails from Ngugu Community in Ikeduru Local Government Area of Imo State is the second-in-command to the gang leader and also the driver.
Son of the deceased speaks
Sons of late Captain Zualmark, (rtd) who accompanied the Police to where the copse of their father was dumped fought had to hold back tears. They watched in silence as the mortician packed their father’s remains inside a bag.
The elder among them, Nanbol, was full of appreciation to the IRT in particular and the Nigeria Police in general, describing the investigation that led to the arrest of the suspects and recovery of their father’s remains as professional. He however expressed disappointment that his father’s assailants disrupted his wedding plans.
According to him, “I should have been happy somehow that after one month and three weeks, we have finally come to a close on this case and even though it didn’t turn out the way we expected as a family, I am thankful that it has closed.
“When my younger sister called me on September 18,2021, to break the news, I didn’t believe at first because I felt it was a story that happens in the news. Personally, I tried to make some contacts because I know the system can be slow in Nigeria.
“Eventually, we reached out to the IRT. But we were asked to reach out to the company to find out how far it had gone so as not to duplicate efforts. The company said it had contacted the DSS.
“It took about a month before we were able to prevail on the company to reach out to the IRT. The result is what we have today.
“I received news of the arrest with excitement. I was almost giving up hope. Sometimes they would tell me they were working and it looked as if they just wanted everything to die off just like that but the IRT contact person was always encouraging me to keep hope alive.
“Last Sunday, he called to say he had news of my dad’s kidnap. He didn’t know how to break it at first.
“When it came, it was difficult. But I just have to thank God that it is all over because our lives were stalled all this while.
“As a matter of fact, I was supposed to wed on 27th of November here in Eleme, Port Harcourt.
“My dad was supposed to go with me to pay the dowry last month. The flight I took from Lagos to Port Harcourt was what I booked to come for my traditional rites with my dad.
“The day after he was kidnapped was the day we were supposed to have our final conversation on the marriage arrangement.
“Those arrangements had been cancelled, all we were doing was to ensure he was back. It is sad news but at the same time it was good because we can actually mourn him and face our lives again”.
Commissioner of Police, Rivers State Command, CP Friday, while parading the suspects, said news of the deceased’s disappearance did not reach the command on time.
He added that the suspects would be charged to court, even as he advised criminals to change for good or have same fate befall them.
The post How kidnapped Army Captain was killed , body dumped in farmland appeared first on Vanguard News.
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