Young boy fakes own kidnap to extort N10million from parents in Ogun

A young boy, 23, Edward Okache, has faked his own abduction by arranging with some men in Ogun State to extort N10million from his parents.

The Ogun State Police Command, on Monday, said Okache was nabbed with four others identified as: Asamoah Ernest, Isiah Uti, Ephraim Anyijor and charity Lukpata, whom he told to kidnap him.

It was gathered that one Comfort Okache had earlier reported at the Mowe divisional headquarters via a phone call that his younger brother, travelling from Calabar to Lagos, had been kidnapped around Mowe area of Ogun State.

According to the police spokesman in Ogun, Abimbola Oyeyemi, the kidnappers were demanding N10 million if the relatives wanted to see the boy alive.

It was learnt that the DPO of Mowe division, SP Folake Afeniforo, had mobilized the division’s tactical teams to the area.

“Upon painstaking and enduring combing of the surrounding bush at Orimerunmu area, the victim was sighted in an uncompleted building with the duo of Asamoah Ernest, a Ghanaian, and Isiah Uti, where he was tied in both hands and legs.

“But on getting to the station, the two arrested suspects made a shocking revelation that the so-called victim was the person who planned with them to kidnap him in order for him to extort money from his parents to invest in an online business,” Oyeyemi explained.

According to the police, they had confessed further that the said Okache was introduced to them by Anyijor and Lukpata, who are also indigenes of the same Yala Local Government Area of Cross River as the victim, saying that they all are part of the planned kidnap of Edward Okache.

Oyeyemi stated that their confession led to the arrest of Anyijor and Lukpata, adding that “they have all confessed to the commission of the crime.”

The Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Lanre Bankole, however, directed that the case be referred to the anti-kidnapping unit of the State CIID for further investigation and possible prosecution.