For an otherwise calm gentleman who starts a regular day with a Psalm 23 verse, many would have seen ‘armed robbery’ as a far-fetched venture he would be interested in but that is the story of arguably, the richest Nigerian criminal who happens to own a Ghanaian passport.
The father of five is described by his wife, Uchenna Precious Onwuamadike, and other acquaintances as a very religious person whose arrest by the police remains an utter surprise.
Chikwudubem Onwuamadike, known by many in his native Nigeria as Evans, is meanwhile described by the police to be a notorious criminal who until recently, was the leader of a high-end kidnapping gang that had successfully pulled off a number of gigs. According to the head of the Nigerian Police department, Chikwudubem is an expensive hostage-taker who at a point in time demanded a $6m ransom for the release of one of his victims.
“Evans is the vicious leader of a highly organised kidnap-for-ransom syndicate and criminal gang terrorising and responsible for several kidnap of notable/prominent Nigerians in Lagos State, including the Western, Eastern, South-South and some Northern States. He has his gangs active and spread across these mentioned states,” the Nigerian Police announced shortly after his arrest two weeks ago.
Modus Operandi
It’s unclear if Evans and his crew had just one approach with which they operated but the Nigerian police is very certain of a distinct one they believe was replicated in a number of kidnapping operations.
They narrate that in several kidnap attacks Evans worked with separate crews – one responsible for the kidnapping and another ‘heavily armed’ group responsible for moving the victim(s) to a secret location where they would ensure that the victim(s) complied with every directive until a ransom set by Evans was paid.
In one of their operations five years ago, a 35-year-old man, Mbarikatta William Uboma, was kidnapped on his arrival from Hungary as he approached his house.
He was in his Toyota vehicle in the company of his brother when a Passat car emerged from nowhere and blocked his car.
He was blindfolded and taken to an unknown location. Later, Evans is said to have demanded a 10 million Naira ransom even though only 2 million of the amount was realized after negotiations. Evans however collected other personal belongings and accessories of the victim to make up for the 8 million Naira.
Assets
The Police say Evans has two (2) Mansions in Magodo GRA Phase 2 worth about three hundred million naira (N300,000,000). He reportedly owns two (2) additional houses in Ghana’s capital, Accra with a number of luxurious cars at the said apartments.
