- Only 2 out of 8 kidnap cases were real in 2 months – Osun Police Command
BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO
As economic hardship bites harder in Nigeria, cases of fake kidnapping-for-ransom are on the rise.
Findings by The Point revealed that some Nigerians now kidnap themselves in order to force their family members to part with some huge cash as ransom in a bid to beat hard times.
It was gathered that some who carry out this criminal act depend on the news publication in the media to reach out to their targeted relatives.
Credible sources informed The Point that after colluding with some motorcycle operators and some other thugs, these criminally-minded individuals would send their fake kidnap story to those around them through phone calls or social media, before their sympathetic relations would start panicking and negotiating ransom.
The police in Ogun arrested a 23-year-old man, Edward Okache, who faked his abduction with the intention ofextorting N10 million from his parents.
A pastor, Albarka Sukuya, was also arrested by Plateau State police operatives for allegedly staging his kidnap on several occasions to extort his church members. He was said to have worked alongside other members of his gang to fake his kidnap while his church members contributed money to pay for ransom.
Two sisters, aged 13 and 15, were recently arrested by operatives of the Ondo State Amotekun Corps for kidnapping themselves and demanding the sum of N100, 000.
The teenagers, said to be in JSS3 and SSS1, respectively, reportedly stayed in a hotel from where they called their mother that they had been kidnapped and that the abductors were demanding N100, 000 for their release.
In a dramatic manner, the Lagos State Police officers arrested a couple who kidnapped themselves in their house and sent a text message to their rich family members to pay ransom to some people whom they claimed abducted them.
The couple said they staged the abduction by staying in their house at Badagry and sending out the text in order to extort money from their family members, some of whom live abroad.
They claimed none of their family members was willing to assist them financially before they had to fake the abduction.
In Osun State, no fewer than six fake kidnapping cases have been recorded in the past two months.
Lamenting the ugly trend, the Public Relations Officer of the Osun State Police Command, Yemisi Opalola, said after investigations by the Force, only two, out of the eight abduction cases in the state were real, adding that six others were faked to extort family members.
Opalola explained that some of those who planned the fake kidnapping were married women and men who wanted to force their partners and other relations to give them money.
She said the more the economic hardship was biting harder, the more some Nigerians were fraudulently coming up with means to beat the hard times.
The PPRO warned that the Command would not spear anyone found committing such an offence, adding that the perpetrators were creating needless panic in the state and making it appear unsafe.
“It is sad that people are becoming criminally smart in order to get money. I can tell you that majority of all these kidnapping that are being reported are fake. People do these things to extort money from their family members. Cases of these criminal acts abound. In Osun State, out of the eight kidnap cases that were reported recently, only two were real and we rescued the victims, the six others were faked by those who want to extort their family members,” she revealed.
Opalola noted that Osun is safe and peaceful and that visitors should not be afraid of coming into the state for their legitimate activities.
Meanwhile, stakeholders have expressed worry over the rate of fake abduction in the country and urged governments and concerned authorities to nip it in the bud.
A parent, Lekan Agunbiade, blamed the atrocities on erosion of moral values in the country.
“No matter the hardship one may experience, our moral values do not permit that we escape such through crimes. We are gradually losing these moral values daily and it is sad. If the erosion of moral values continues, you will discover that we won’t get out of this fake kidnap for extortion and other criminal acts even when the nation experiences better times,” he said.
