A gang who kidnapped a father-of-two while posing as Interpol officers before he was tortured, burned and ultimately died from his injuries are facing lengthy prison sentences. Tomasz Samel was taken from an address in Handsworth, Birmingham, at around 8.40am on March 27, 2019. The men claimed they were Interpol officers executing a European Arrest Warrant against Mr Samel, who was originally from Poland. He was taken to a white Peugeot van and driven from Birmingham to an area near the Merseyside-Lancashire border, where he was subjected to horrific torture and burns. At around 11.10pm that night, the badly injured father managed to reach a remote property in Lancashire and knock on the door. He told the householder he had been driven from Birmingham and tortured before being dumped at the roadside. Mr Samel spent three months in hospital but died from his injuries on June 21, 2019. A major international investigation led by West Midlands Police’s Homicide team subsequently uncovered the circumstances surrounding his kidnapping. Detectives established Mr Samel had been involved in smuggling illicit cigarettes from Poland into the UK. He had a unit in Aston which was used to store cigarettes and which had been raided by HM Revenue and Customs officers on February 22, 2019. Officers seized around 10 million illicit cigarettes, which had been delivered the previous day and had an estimated street value of approximately £1 million. Police said the seizure represented a significant loss to the criminal enterprise and Mr Samel was blamed for what had happened. Investigators established that Tobiasz Kozlowski and Neil Jones led a plot to kidnap Mr Samel and “teach him a lesson”. Police said both men were key figures in the cigarette-smuggling operation and had travelled to Poland to discuss the loss of the cigarettes and formulate a plan to kidnap him. Jones later admitted paying the kidnappers £20,000 to take Mr Samel. Kevin Wooden bought a police-style earpiece from Amazon which police said was intended to help him pose as an Interpol officer alongside Kye Arthur. Wooden also acquired the white Peugeot van used during the kidnapping. Following the investigation, Neil Jones, 48, of no fixed address, and Tobiasz Kozlowski, 38, of Kirkby, Merseyside, were convicted of murder. Kye Arthur, 35, of Bristol, was convicted of manslaughter. He had previously admitted conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison. Kevin Wooden, 46, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, was also convicted of manslaughter after previously admitting conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison. Sandra Kozlowska, 38, of Kirkby, was convicted of assisting an offender. Police said she remained in contact with her husband, Tobiasz Kozlowski, after he went on the run, deposited money into a bank account for him and began developing a cover story he could use if arrested. The defendants are now facing lengthy prison sentences for their respective roles in the kidnapping and death of Mr Samel.
Originally published by UKNIP.
