iDeemlawfulAn Abuja-based security guard identified as Sunday has recounted how he orchestrated a fake kidnapping to extort N4m from his family after seeking money to travel to his village for the Christmas festivities.
Sunday revealed this during an interrogation video shared on Facebook on Wednesday by the Federal Capital Territory Police Public Relations Officer, Josephine Adeh.
According to Adeh, Sunday allegedly used a friend’s mobile phone to contact his family, claiming he had been kidnapped and that his supposed abductors were demanding N4m as ransom.
The PPRO explained that the suspect carried out the scheme without the knowledge of the phone’s owner. Trouble began when Sunday’s family later contacted the friend to plead for a reduction in the ransom and begged that Sunday should not be harmed, leaving the friend stunned.
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Adeh added that after realising he had been falsely linked to the alleged crime, the friend promptly reported the matter to the police, which led to Sunday’s arrest.
Adeh said, “Sunday staged his own kidnapping and demanded a ransom of N4 million from his family using his colleague’s phone because he needed money to travel to the East for the Christmas holidays.
“He called his parents with his friend’s phone, demanding the sum of N4m and alleging that the friend had kidnapped him.
The friend did not even understand what he was saying, as Sunday only borrowed the phone to make a call and was speaking Igbo.
“As luck ran out on him, the family later reached out to Suleman, begging him to reduce the amount and not to kill Sunday. However, the friend was very surprised and stated that he had not kidnapped anyone and that Sunday was fine. He then went to the Jabi Police Station and reported the incident.”
During questioning, Sunday admitted that he used his friend’s phone to place the distress call to his family, falsely claiming he had been abducted and demanding ransom.
He also stated in the video that he devised the plan to obtain money because he wanted to travel to his village in the eastern part of the country.
Sunday said, “My name is Sunday. I used my friend’s phone to call my people and tell them that my friend had kidnapped me. I did that because I needed money to go to the village. I demanded N4m as ransom. I do not feel okay about what I did.”
This incident is not the first time individuals have exploited the country’s security challenges to stage self-kidnapping schemes in order to extort relatives.
It was reported last Thursday that a 26-year-old woman, identified simply as Misturah, was arrested for allegedly faking her own abduction and extorting N2.5m from her husband under the pretext of a kidnapping.
Our correspondent gathered that the matter was reported to the police on November 24 when a lawyer, Hamzat (surname withheld), contacted authorities to report that his brother’s wife had been kidnapped by unknown gunmen.