Kidnapped SD Businessmen Still Scam Targets
Two Men Held 10 Days In Africa
Two San Diego men kidnapped in Kenya and held for 10 days last April say that they are still the target of scams similar to the one that led to their capture.
Juergen Robert Ahlmann, 58, and James Edward Harrel, 67, fell victim to a Nairobi-based ransom scheme that investigators believe has targeted a number of foreign travelers in recent months, officials.
Ahlmann says that he has received e-mails from five other people in Africa offering business partnerships similar to the one that led him into the kidnappers' clutches.
"They're selling the idea that you're going to get a lot of cash," Ahlmann said.
Ahlmann and Harrel were taken in while looking for venture capitalists to invest in a fishing business they were starting.
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.
Since he has returned home, Ahlmann has received e-mails from purported businessmen telling him that they need help getting money out of Africa, and that he will receive a cut if he takes part in a business deal.
"To an untrained eye, these are legitimate letters," Caldwell said.
Ahlmann said that he is playing along with some of them, "in the hopes that we can put them away."
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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.
Since he has returned home, Ahlmann has received e-mails from purported businessmen telling him that they need help getting money out of Africa, and that he will receive a cut if he takes part in a business deal.
"To an untrained eye, these are legitimate letters," Caldwell said.
Ahlmann said that he is playing along with some of them, "in the hopes that we can put them away."
- April 30, 2001: San Diego Businessmen Held For Ransom In Kenya Arrive Home
- April 26, 2001: San Diegans Kidnapped In Africa
Copyright 2002 by TheSanDiegoChannel.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
