San Diego Businessmen Held For Ransom In Kenya Arrive Home
Americans Describe Captivity, Torment
Two San Diego area men are back home Monday following their abduction in Kenya.
Juergen Robert Ahlmann, 58, and James Edward Harrel, 67, arrived Saturday on a commercial flight at Lindbergh Field, ending a trip that promised lucrative business opportunities but delivered only terror.
The men fell victim to a Nairobi-based ransom scheme that investigators believe has targeted a number of foreign travelers in recent months, officials.
Ahlmann and Harrel were taken in while looking for venture capitalists to invest in a business they were starting, authorities said. The nature of the endeavor has not been disclosed, though it may have involved the sale of diamonds.
In January, the partners got in touch with a man in Kenya who identified himself as a potential financier.
Authorities later identified him as 41-year-old Augustine Azubuike Nwangwa of Nigeria, (pictured, left), FBI Special Agent Jan Caldwell said. To the San Diego County men, he went by the name of Mike Otieno or Suleiman Ahmed.
Investigators believe Nwangwa is part of an organized Kenya-based kidnapping group of at least five members who lure their victims from other countries on the pretense of business opportunities.
Over the course of telephone and Internet contacts, Nwangwa agreed to put up $5 million in backing for the Americans' start-up venture, Caldwell said. He then arranged for them to visit Kenya, claiming to have made reservations at an upscale Nairobi hotel for the duration of their stay.
"Nwangwa also requested (that) the men purchase and bring with them a laptop computer and a cellular telephone," the agent said. "These were to be presented to Nairobi bank officials as gifts to facilitate the transfer of the (investment money)."
The businessmen agreed, leaving San Diego for Africa on April 12.
Upon arriving at Nairobi International Airport two days later, the Americans were seized and taken to a residential part of the African city.
In a nondescript home there, their captors chained their hands and feet and fed them only bread and soda, the FBI reported.
Two days after the men's arrival in Kenya, one of their wives received an e-mail message supposedly sent by her husband and asking for $10,000, ostensibly to pay "administrative expenses" for the transfer of the $5 million, Caldwell said.
The other businessman's spouse at one point telephoned her husband, who sounded distressed and instructed her to send him $20,000 immediately.
"Subsequent conversations with the two victims indicated that if the money was not sent soon, they would be in big trouble," Caldwell said.
The families of the two men then called the FBI and started working with an agent assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. With help from Kenyan law enforcement officials, the FBI set up bogus arrangements to deliver ransom for the release of the businessmen.
A Nairobi-based FBI agent working along with Kenyan law enforcement officers arrested Nwangwa as he tried to pick up a $7,000 payment. His accomplices fled and abandoned the hostages when he failed to return.
Authorities then located and freed the captive Americans, Caldwell said.
Nwangwa was placed in the custody of Kenyan authorities on charges of kidnapping and extortion.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego plans to review the case and explore the possibility of extraditing Nwangwa for prosecution in the United States, Caldwell said.
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Authorities later identified him as 41-year-old Augustine Azubuike Nwangwa of Nigeria, (pictured, left), FBI Special Agent Jan Caldwell said. To the San Diego County men, he went by the name of Mike Otieno or Suleiman Ahmed.
Investigators believe Nwangwa is part of an organized Kenya-based kidnapping group of at least five members who lure their victims from other countries on the pretense of business opportunities.
Over the course of telephone and Internet contacts, Nwangwa agreed to put up $5 million in backing for the Americans' start-up venture, Caldwell said. He then arranged for them to visit Kenya, claiming to have made reservations at an upscale Nairobi hotel for the duration of their stay.
"Nwangwa also requested (that) the men purchase and bring with them a laptop computer and a cellular telephone," the agent said. "These were to be presented to Nairobi bank officials as gifts to facilitate the transfer of the (investment money)."
The businessmen agreed, leaving San Diego for Africa on April 12.
Upon arriving at Nairobi International Airport two days later, the Americans were seized and taken to a residential part of the African city.
In a nondescript home there, their captors chained their hands and feet and fed them only bread and soda, the FBI reported.
Two days after the men's arrival in Kenya, one of their wives received an e-mail message supposedly sent by her husband and asking for $10,000, ostensibly to pay "administrative expenses" for the transfer of the $5 million, Caldwell said.
The other businessman's spouse at one point telephoned her husband, who sounded distressed and instructed her to send him $20,000 immediately.
"Subsequent conversations with the two victims indicated that if the money was not sent soon, they would be in big trouble," Caldwell said.
The families of the two men then called the FBI and started working with an agent assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi. With help from Kenyan law enforcement officials, the FBI set up bogus arrangements to deliver ransom for the release of the businessmen.
A Nairobi-based FBI agent working along with Kenyan law enforcement officers arrested Nwangwa as he tried to pick up a $7,000 payment. His accomplices fled and abandoned the hostages when he failed to return.
Authorities then located and freed the captive Americans, Caldwell said.
Nwangwa was placed in the custody of Kenyan authorities on charges of kidnapping and extortion.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego plans to review the case and explore the possibility of extraditing Nwangwa for prosecution in the United States, Caldwell said.
- April 26, 2001: San Diegans Kidnapped In Africa
Copyright 2002 by TheSanDiegoChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
