A pregnant woman identified as Rosemary, has been arrested for faking her kidnap and conniving with her lover to collect ₦2 million ransom from her husband, one Chiedozie Ubah.
Operatives of the FCT Command arrested the woman after her husband reported her kidnap.
Police investigation revealed that the suspect gave her boyfriend ₦800,000 as his share from the ₦2 million ransom collected.
Rosemary, and her boyfriend were reported to be cooling off in the police cell.
FCT Police Commissioner, Benneth Igweh, who disclosed this development while addressing journalists, stated that ₦793,500 cash was later recovered from them following their arrest.
“On 11 March 2024 at about 7:40 pm., one Chiedozie Ubah of Saburi II, Dei-dei, Abuja, reported at Gwagwa division that his pregnant wife Rosemary Ubah, left home to the hospital on the same date for a scan but did not return home.
“He later received a call through his wife’s phone number telling him that his wife had been kidnapped. And a demand for two million naira ransom before her release was made.
“He transferred the sum into his wife’s account as instructed by the kidnapper.
“He later brought his wife to the station after her release.
“During interrogation, the wife freely confessed to have conspired with one man named Walter Ezeala, living in the same street with them at Saburi, to extort money from her husband.
“The said Walter was arrested and he confessed that his share was ₦800,000. And the lady took ₦1,200,000.
“The ₦793,500 cash, two ATM cards and two android phones were recovered from them. Suspects will be charged to court soon,” the police chieftain was quoted as saying.
Disclosing another faked kidnap that involved one Pascal Akuh, Igweh recalled that on Thursday, March 14, 2024, at about 5:30 pm, one Akuh Chinemezeh reported at APO Divisional Headquarters that his younger brother called him, saying he was arrested by Police and taken to SCID custody.
Igweh noted that on the strength of this, the police and the suspect’s family went to SCID, IRT and FCID detention facilities, only to discover that he was not in any of the aforementioned facilities.
The 28-year-old was traced to a hotel, after which he confessed to faking his kidnap.