Man rescues 13 abducted woman
13 young women ranging in age from 17 to 28 years, were rescued yesterday after months of being held in captivity in Chalala, Lusaka. Among them was Pamela Chisumpa a 22-year-old Mobile Money Booth operator who had been kidnapped about 6 months ago along Cairo road.
One of the young women, Agness Kapwaya a first-year nursing student who had been kidnapped 3 weeks ago risked her life by scaling the wall fence and running to the neighbors’ house for help. She took the opportunity to escape after one of the abductors left the bedroom door unlocked.
A young man at the neighboring house with the assistance of other neighbors armed themselves with an axe and went to the kidnappers’ house. There, they found several traumatized young women, one of whom was pregnant. They recused the women from the house and called the police.
The house was sparsely furnished. Distinctly visible was a coffin, shrine, charms, sanitary pads, and condoms scattered everywhere. One of the neighbors recounted how he had frequently seen one of the abductors buying condoms and sanitary pads and wondered why a man would be buying so many pads. The neighbors claim the occupant of that house has only been there for a month, which suggests that Pamela Chisumpa and the other girls were being moved from one house to another.
Inspector General of Police Lemmy Kajoba who led a team of police officers to the crime scene said all the victims had been taken to a medical facility. He added that they managed to apprehend one suspect who had been detained in police custody to help police with investigations.
In a statement, the Inspector General of Police said it was with a sense of relief that he was informing the nation that the Police managed to safely rescue Pamela Chisumpa together with 12 other ladies that were held captive in a house in Chalala, Lusaka. The rescue was after a long investigation since April this year when Pamela was abducted along Cairo road in Lusaka. Unconfirmed reports state that the 2 other suspects that had been on the run – Mathews Sikaonga and James Bwlaya were arrested in Kaoma a few hours later.
