Staff Reporter
THE Namibian police in the Oshana Region have rescued a female victim who was being held hostage in a car by two men who wanted to withdraw money from her account without consent.
The 28-year-old resident of Oshakati was traveling from the UNAM Campus in the Oshakati-West to the Ehenye suburb Monday evening.
That was around 21:30 when she boarded a Toyota Corolla which she believed to be a genuine taxi.
What followed thereafter was a chain of dramatic events that ended with the intervention of the police’s special reserve force.
It is alleged that there were two male occupants – the driver and a passenger – when the victim boarded the taxi whose number plates turned out to be fake.
Instead of driving to Ehenye, the driver diverted and drove to the Kalaula location in the Oshakati East where the male passenger pulled out a knife which he used to threaten the victim.
He also punched her with fists demanding her ATM card and the respective PIN. They drove to the Bank Windhoek branch where the driver tried to withdraw money while the other robber was holding the victim hostage in the vehicle.
According to the police, the attempt to withdraw money failed and they drove away in the direction of Okahao.
Meanwhile, an alert bystander noticed that there was a woman in that car who was screaming and kicking the passenger’s window. He or she alerted the police.
The special reserve force caught up with the robbers and their hostage at the Othingo village near the town’s dumpsite. They managed to escape, speeding off back to Oshakati’s Uupindi location where they abandoned both the vehicle and the victim as they fled on foot.
The police said that the victim sustained minor injuries on both legs.
The suspects are still at large, but the police have managed to identify one of them who is known only by the nickname “Shivu”.
