Husband and wife, 5 others charged in Queens kidnappings: officials

NEW YORK (PIX11) -- Seven people were indicted on conspiracy to kidnap and sexual assault charges on Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Abu Chowdhury and his wife Iffat Lubna, along with  Syed Rubel Ahmed, Shahed Alom, Abu Chowdhury, Anzu Khan and Sultana Razia allegedly kidnapped members of their Queens community and violently assaulted their victims in two different incidents last year, officials said.

The first alleged kidnapping happened on March 27, 2023, when five of the assailants and a co-conspirator abducted and assaulted a victim on a Queens street, prosecutors said. The assailants allegedly forced the victim into an SUV and Chowdhury beat the victim while the co-conspirator drove them around Queens.

At one point during the abduction, Chowdhury forced the victim to stand naked in a residential neighborhood while filming the victim. The victim was also allegedly drugged by the assailants and later woke up in the hospital, prosecutors said

The second alleged kidnapping happened on May 11, 2023, when Chowdhury and his wife Lubna abducted and assaulted another victim who had been waiting for Lubna outside a restaurant in Woodside, Queens. After beating the victim in a mini-van, Lubna and a co-conspirator ransomed the victim for $20,000 and sodomized the victim, according to prosecutors.

“As alleged, the defendants carried out acts of brutal physical and sexual assault of the victims,” said United States Attorney Breon Peace.  “The defendants allegedly exploited their shared ethnic background with the victims in furtherance of the crimes."

Lubna allegedly knew the victim from school, prosecutors said. The victim was able to escape by chewing through the restraints and breaking open a window.

Officials are asking for more potential victims to come forward. A seventh individual wanted in connection with the violent incidents is still at large, according to prosecutors.