The Police in Lagos State have picked up a 26-year-old housewife and her 30-year-old accomplice for allegedly staging her own kidnapping and extorting N2.5 million from her husband.
The command’s spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, said this Saturday in Lagos.
Adebisi said the command received a distress call on Nov. 24 from the husband of the suspect reporting that his wife had been kidnapped by armed men.
She said the caller disclosed that the alleged kidnappers initially demanded for a ransom of N10 million, which was later reduced to N3 million, adding that after he paid N2.5 million, the woman was still not released.
“Upon receipt of the complaint, the Command Special Squad immediately deployed human and technical assets to track the alleged kidnappers.
“The supposed victim was eventually released and reunited with her family,” Adebisi said.
Adebisi said during police debriefing, the woman claimed she was abducted by six armed men in a silver Toyota Venza, taken to their hideout and dispossessed her of her iPhone 12 Pro Max.
“She further claimed that the ransom paid by her husband was first credited into her bank account before being handed over to the kidnappers,” she said.
Adebisi, however, said that police investigations revealed several inconsistencies in her narrative.
She said that on Dec. 3, operatives apprehended the accomplice in Ede area of Osun State, adding that a SIM card used to register the WhatsApp account through which ransom negotiations were conducted was recovered from him.
“During interrogation, the accomplice confessed that the suspect requested the use of his SIM card to create the WhatsApp account used for the ransom negotiations.
“He admitted providing the one-time password (OTP) sent to his line, which enabled her to operate the account,” Adebisi said.
According to her, following the confession, the suspect was confronted and she admitted to faking her own kidnapping to extort money from her husband, who resides in South Africa.
She added that further investigation led to the recovery of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which the suspect had earlier claimed was with the kidnappers.
“The phone was recovered from a 34-year-old man, who told investigators that he bought it from the suspect for N380,000 after being warned not to insert any SIM card into it,” she said.
Adebisi said investigations were ongoing and that the suspect and her accomplice would be charged to court upon the conclusion of the investigation.
