Washington, Aug 3 (IANS) Police in the US state of Oregon said that a woman had escaped from a makeshift “dungeon” made of cinder blocks inside a private residence, with the FBI currently looking for additional victims of the arrested suspect, the media reported.
Negasi Zuberi, the 29-year-old suspect, was taken into federal custody on suspicion of kidnapping across state lines after the woman from Seattle escaped from his home in Klamath Falls, Oregon, CNN quoted a statement issued on Wednesday by the FBI Portland Field Office as saying.
The FBI stated that the woman claimed of being sexually assaulted.
Zuberi, who has lived in at least 10 different states since 2016, has been linked to violent assaults in at least four different states, according to the FBI.
Investigators have reason to believe there could be several other victims, the probe agency said.
He was indicted by a grand jury in Oregon on one count of kidnapping and one count of transportation with intent to engage in sexual activity, court documents filed on Wednesday revealed.
On July 15, Zuberi traveled from his home in Klamath Falls to Seattle where he posed as an undercover police officer to solicit the services of a prostitute, according to the FBI statement.
The victim said Zuberi pointed a Taser at her, placed her in handcuffs and leg irons and then put her in the back seat of his car.
“Zuberi told the victim she was under arrest,” the Klamath Falls Police Department said in a news release.
“The victim reported Zuberi had a firearm, police patches, a taser, and other law enforcement equipment.”
He then drove back to his Klamath Falls home, stopping on the way to sexually assault her, the victim told detectives.
During the drive, the woman noticed a map application on the suspect’s cellphone that indicated they were two hours and four minutes away from the set destination, according to an affidavit reviewed by CNN.
The woman “knew at that point that Zuberi was not a police officer and that she was being kidnapped”, it added.
Upon arriving at the home, he placed the woman in “a makeshift cell he had constructed in his garage” made of cinder blocks and a metal door that was locked from the outside and left her there, the FBI said in its statement.
The woman told authorities she repeatedly banged on the door until she was able to break her way out of the cell.
“The victim said she knew Zuberi would kill her if she stayed in the room,” the police said.
“The victim began punching the security screen door. The victim was able to break the welds on the screen door and pull the metal screen material down. The victim then climbed through a small opening in the door and escaped.”
–IANS
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