* Police arrest man who posed as kidnapper to extort family
In what can be regarded as tragic, the lifeless body of the Vanguard newspaper reporter ,Tordue Henry Salem, who went missing for about 28 days has been found dead in Abuja.
But details of the circumstances leading to the recovery of his remains were still sketchy at press time at about 9.30 pm on Thursday night.
The late Salem, who was covering the House of Representatives for Vanguard Newspapers, was last seen on October 13, 2021. After the close of work on that day, he was said to have alighted from a cab at Total filling station, close to the Force Headquarters and headed for B J’s Garden in the company of a female relative.
Thereafter, he reportedly flagged a cab for the lady who left before him, informing her that he was going to Area 8, Garki. But he was never seen until his remains were recovered on Thursday.
Incidentally, an alarm on his mysterious disappearance was raised the next day while the matter was directed to the Intelligence Response Team , IRT on October 16, 2021.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force has arrested some suspects including a man who was picked for attempting to extort Salem’s family.
The suspect, identified as Prince Enyenihi, 25, was said to have contacted Mrs Salem on October 26, 2021, via a text message with a concealed number, requesting for N100million ransom, to be paid as ransom for her husband’s release.
The text message reads in part : “If you don’t pay, Tordue will be killed in seven days. For more information, call this number”. The text message also contained an account number the money should be paid into.
The conversation was followed by a call with a concealed number to Salem’s wife the next day. But Mrs Salem requested to speak with her husband to ascertain he was alive before negotiation would begin. The caller ,however, gave the phone to someone who tried to play along.
When Mrs Salem noticed that the voice did not sound like her husband’s, she asked the stranger to mention the name of their daughter and her birth date, a question that met dead silence at the other end of the phone.
The same evening, another call with a concealed number was received by Mrs Salem, requesting to know if her husband had been released. The confused woman was said to have requested why the caller had his number concealed.
On October 27, another text came on a bulk text message platform, ordering the family to pay the N100 million ransom before the next day, failure of which they would kill Salem.
The Police swung into action first, by de-encrypting the number that called and traced its owner to a lady in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
But during interrogation, the lady who owns Joy Skin Care, denied culpability, stating that a particular number had been calling her line since October 26, 2021.
It was further gathered that when on further checks, operatives discovered that the number was the same with the one that used to contact Mrs Salem.
The development led to the arrest of 25-year-old Enyenihi on November 5, 2021.
During preliminary investigation, it was discovered that Enyenihi was next door neighbor to the beautician. During interrogation, he disclosed that he got information of Vanguard reporter’s disappearance on a flyer that went viral on social media, which had the number of Mrs Salem as the contact person to report to if Salem was found.
The suspect further stated that he sent the text messages without the knowledge of his female neighbour, adding that he got his neighbour’s telephone number and account details from her Facebook page .
He said, “I knew the family wouldn’t pay the money. I used the owner of Joy beauty skin care‘s account details in order to punish her for always talking to me anyhow”.
The Police described the arrest as a distraction from what they were looking for.
Concerted efforts to get the reaction from Force Public Relation’s Officer proved abortive at press time.
