The Police Command in Lagos State says it has arrested two students for allegedly faking their kidnap.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday, in Lagos.
Hundeyin further told NAN that the suspects also demanded $100,000 (about ₦150 million) ransom from their parents. He gave the names of the suspects as Ayodele Balogun, 21, a 200-level student of Education at the Lagos State University, Ijaniki, and his friend, Dennis Okuomo, 21, a student of NIIT Lagos.
According to him, both faked their kidnap and demanded ₦150 million to assist their friend, Ayodele, who is from a poor family.
“It was Dennis’s idea because Ayodele is from a poor family and his best friend; he wanted to use it to raise money for him so that he can be able to take care of his family.”
The command’s spokesman said that on February 2, Ayodele disappeared from home, while Dennis used his (Ayodele)’s phone to inform his father, Balogun, of his son’s faked kidnap and demanded $20,000 (about ₦30 million) ransom.
Hundeyin said that the suspects had directed Ayodele’s father to pay the ransom through Bitcoin, which wallet they had sent him while Ayodele was hiding in Dennis’s room in his (Dennis’s) father’s hotel.
“Ayodele’s father, a driver with a private company, received the message with many worries, wondering where to raise $20,000.”
Hundeyin said when Balogun could not raise the money, Dennis decided to also fake his kidnap and demanded 100,000 dollars (about ₦150 million) from his father.
According to him, both suspects decided to leave the hotel to hide in a bush and remained there for five days while the negotiation and investigation were ongoing.
“On March 16, as no money was paid and the suspects were not comfortable with the condition of the bush, they decided to return to Dennis’s room in his father’s hotel.
“They told everybody that they just escaped from the kidnappers’ den, and quickly called Ayodele’s father to inform him about their purported escape from the kidnapper's den.
"They took Ayodele to the hospital believing that he just came from the kidnappers’ den.
“Investigation so far revealed that the suspects faked their kidnap.
“They are in our custody, two perpetrators of self-kidnap,” he noted.