Rescue of a kidnapped man
By PETER MIVA
ON the night of Good Friday, March 21, 2008, a missing persons’ report was filed at the Lae central police station.
Staff from the Morobe Produce Marketing at Chinatown, Lae had reported that the managing director Barry Fell and his driver Simeon Gase had failed to come back from the Waratha’s Sports Club since lunch.The worried workers had no clue where they had gone to. They were anxious, particularly because Barry was disabled.
The National Criminal Intelligence Unit and the Rapid Response Unit from the Metropolitan Command in Lae took the task of trying to find the missing two.
NCIU Detective First Constable George Avali and the Rapid Response Unit team of Constable Nelson Jerry, First Constable Bartley Soni, and Senior Constable Mowalu had no lead from which to start their investigation.
On Sunday, March 23, First Constable Avali and his colleagues got the breakthrough they needed.
A woman had gone to cash a K500 cheque signed by Barry at the Bintangor Trading in Goroka a day after he was kidnapped from Lae.
Barry signed this cheque on Saturday, March 22, under the barrel of a gun in a bush hut in a hamlet in Wara Bena, Asaro, Eastern highlands province.
According to Henry Musalu, one of the workers who went with the police to Goroka, the staff had no clue until one of the workers from Bintangor Trading came to their office at Chinatown, Lae, to buy some vegetables on Sunday, March 23.
“We had no idea where our boss was until the client told us Barry had rung their office to authorise the payment,” Henry said.
Barry was compelled to speak with the management of Bintangor Trading after a woman who had gone to cash it was questioned to authenticate the cheque.
“They asked the woman if she knew Barry and she told them that he was a family friend,” he said.
She disappeared after the transaction was completed.
Henry said they waited until the telephone call came from the kidnappers for the ransom demand of K10,000 in exchange for the release of the two hostages on Tuesday, March 25 to confirm their suspicions.
A mysterious caller had contacted another staff Gerard Kana.
The caller had told Gerard that their boss and his driver were kidnapped and that they were to bring K10,000 in cash and a hired vehicle up to Goroka in exchange for the two men’s release before 12 midday.
“That was when we went into rescue mode,” said Gerard.
At 3.30pm that day, First Constable Avali and his police rescue team escorted Gerard, and Henry.
Mark Yapi, a co-worker drove the hired car with the K10,000 in cash as requested by the kidnappers.
The police rescue team arrived with the staff and the ransom money at 9.30pm that night, nine hours past the 12 midday deadline.
Upon arrival, the police instructed Mark who was going to deliver the hired car and the money to call the kidnappers on their Digicel cell phones to meet at the Goroka General hospital for the exchange to take place.
At about 10.30pm the police swiftly drove into the car park at Goroka hospital and took position in the eastern side and maintained vigilance.
A second vehicle with two members of the Rapid Response Unit was stationed some distance from the main gate of the hospital.
Mark then drove into the car park with the hired vehicle and parked at the north side while the police remained in their positions and monitored the situation.
A few minutes later, the hired car drove out of the car park. It seemed the kidnappers had jumped on the vehicle.
The vehicle came out onto Leigh Vial Street taking the direction of Kama with Mark at the wheels and two suspects.
First Constable Avali and his police team quickly tailed Mark and the suspects to about 20 metres.
Mark slammed the brakes and jumped out quickly., giving police both time and and the arc of fire. One fled but the other captured.
The suspect then told the police where Barry and Simeon were being kept.
The police then proceeded to Goroka police station and picked up Reserve Constable Bandi Jacob to beef up manpower as he was from the Asaro area and that the police station was down on manpower that night.
They picked up First Constable Kalinau Tony and Senior Constable Kilo David from the Asaro police station on their way to the Wara Bena hideout of the kidnappers.
The area had a rough terrain and the rescue team had to climb down a slope in total darkness at around 2am on Wednesday morning.
“All the men in the small hamlet had left. There only women and children in the nearby huts while Barry and Simeon were kept under guard by a man and woman suspect in a separate hut,” said Henry Musalu.
Henry said the man was arrested while the woman escaped into the dark. Barry and Simeon were rescued and taken out of the hut at 2.30am.
The rescuers had to take Barry out of the area quickly before the gang arrived. Henry said the only access to get up the hill was to climb up on a log which was used as a step.
Barry was lifted on a temporary stretcher made by the police to be able to climb up the hill.
It was through this movement that one of the suspects, who had kept watch over the two hostages, jumped down the slope and was shot by the police. His fate is still unknown.
After some hours last Wednesday morning resting at the Bird of Paradise Hotel in Goroka, Barry and Simeon, were escorted by the Lae police, co-workers Henry Musalu, Gerard Kana and Mark Yapi back into Lae.
Simeon later this week said they had asked the kidnappers to free them before they would negotiate anything in return but the kidnappers refused.
He said they were kept guard by the men with a pistol and could not do anything to escape because of the disability of Barry.
“When I heard me and Barry’s names being called out from outside the hut, I knew that we were free at last,” said Simeon.
A suspect Thompson Salemba, 32, married with five children from Wantrifor village, Asaro, Eastern highlands, has been arrested and charged while police are still searching for the other suspects involved in the two men’s kidnap.
Police are also searching for Barry’s vehicle, a Toyota Hilux, registration LAQ 312.
Barry left for Cairns, Australia, for further medical checks on Monday.
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