Men of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested a 23-year-old man, Edward Okache, for faking his kidn@p and asking his gang to demand N10m ransom from his family.
Okache reportedly contracted four men — Asamoah Ernest, Isiah Uti, Ephraim Anyijor, and Charity Lukpata — to execute the fake kidnap with a view to getting N10m fund for an online business.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Wednesday, said the suspects were arrested following a report lodged at the Mowe divisional police headquarters by one Comfort Okache.
He said Comfort reported through a phone call that his younger brother, who traveled from Calabar, Cross River, to Lagos, was kidnapped around the Mowe area of Ogun State.
According to Oyeyemi, the complainant said the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of N10m.
He said, “Upon the report, the DPO, Mowe division, SP Folake Afeniforo, mobilized the division’s tactical teams and moved to the area.
“Upon painstaking and enduring combing of the surrounding bush in the 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.
“The two suspects found with him were promptly arrested, while the victim was rescued.
“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.
“They stated further that the so-called victim was introduced to them by Ephraim Anyijor and Charity Lukpata, who are from the same Yala Local Government Area of Cross River, and that they were all part of the planned kidnap of Edward Okache.
Their confession led to the arrest of Ephraim Anyijor and Charity Lukpata. They have all confessed to the commission of the crime.”
Source: Punch