Until he decided to use his skills and gifts as a medicine man to aid men of shady character, Theo Henry was making his living quite well in another profession. Now, he is a guest of the police.
A renowned native doctor in Enugu State, Theo Henry (not real names) has told the police that working with kidnappers and different categories of men of the underworld is about the most lucrative business he has laid his hands on.
Henry, a native of Umuopu Umueze Igboeze North Local Government Area of the state, was named as one of the native doctors who prepared charms for a kidnap syndicate recently nabbed by a detachment of the Anti kidnapping unit of the state police command. Last week, Saturday Mirror reported that nine suspected kidnappers were arrested by the unit over their roles in the kidnap and eventual death of the wife of a traditional ruler in the state, Igwe of Ogogoro, Queen Adiza.
The Igwe’s wife had reportedly died in the custody of her abductors, said to have been led by one Paschal Onah. Even while she had died, the family was still made to cough out a ransom of N300, 000 with the assurance that she would be freed once the money was paid. Unfortunately, immediately the money was paid, the suspected kidnappers cut off all channels of communications and even reportedly buried the woman in a shallow grave inside the compound of the leader of the kidnappers.
In their confessions before law enforcement agents, the arrested kidnappers had revealed how their activities were enhanced by charms prepared for them by some native doctors scattered all over the state. Once the news of the arrest of the suspects was announced, the acclaimed native doctors and suspected kidnappers in the syndicate took to their heels, while a manhunt was launched for all of them.
Though highly revered in his community, Henry’s charms could not save him when men of the anti-kidnapping unit of the command went full throttle after him. Latching on the tips given by the suspects in police custody, the law enforcement agents arrested Henry on Christmas Day, December 25, 2013, in his hideout.
In his confessional statement Henry claimed that he also prepared charms for men of the underworld once they could pay his service charge. When confronted with the efficacy of his charms, Henry told interrogators that aside from helping men of shady characters with charms that make them invulnerable to arrest by the police, he also helped criminals, especially kidnappers, with charms that compelled victims’ relations to agree to quickly pay the ransom demanded, even when the relations did not want to.
Henry also said that he also prepared charms against what he called accident and general protection to avoid being harmed and to escape from any form of danger. Onah had claimed that Henry was always rewarded for his efforts on each trip the gang embarked on with N50, 000.
At times, Henry reportedly got more than that depending on the loot from his ‘clients.’ Speaking on his involvement in the kidnap saga, Henry was quoted as saying that, “Long before now, I used to be a driver plying major routes in the South Eastern part of the country.
Although I was not doing badly then, opportunity came for me that I felt I needed to up my intake. “I am also a native doctor by family background and I felt that I could continue in that family trade, especially when I was approached by some people that they needed protections from arrest, gunshots and other charms. With the kind of money being offered me, I felt I could not let the opportunity to make big money slipped pass me.
“That was how I started to make charms for kidnappers, robbers and other men who wanted to evade arrest as well as be secured from gunshots,” he said.
Henry reportedly confessed to be the one preparing charm for the arrested Onah and his gang. Enugu State Police Command Public Relations Officer, Ebere Amaraizu, in a statement confirmed Henry’s arrest, saying that the native doctor is helping the police with further information about his alleged role in the gang’s atrocities.
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