From Jude Chinedu, Enugu
Operatives of the Enugu State Police Command have arrested a 21-year-old man, Chidera Ako, for allegedly faking his own kidnapping and conspiring with others to extort N2 million from his parents.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Daniel Ndukwe, in a statement on Monday, May 26, 2025, disclosed that Chidera and three accomplices, Okechukwu Chidalu (19), Ifeanyi Ugwu (20), and Ossai Chigozie (35), were apprehended by operatives of the Anti-Cultism Tactical Squad in Nsukka on May 24, 2025.
The fourth suspect, Ossai Chigozie, was noted to be a recently released inmate from the Nigerian Correctional Service.
According to the police, “The suspects were arrested around 1 p.m. for conspiracy, staged kidnapping, and defrauding the parents of a staged kidnapping victim of N2,000,000.00.”
Chidera was first declared missing on May 4. Weeks later, his supposed abductors used his phone to demand ₦10 million from his family. They backed their demand with a disturbing video that showed Chidera bound, bruised, and threatened at gunpoint, with a locally made single-barrel gun pointed at his head.
Moved by fear, his distraught parents transferred ₦1.5 million into a bank account on May 22. When their son was not released, they made an additional N500,000 payment the next day.
It was during an attempt by the suspects to withdraw the ransom at a POS centre that police operatives swooped in and arrested them.
The police recovered the locally made firearm used in the video along with two live cartridges. All suspects reportedly confessed to the crime and will be charged in court upon the conclusion of investigations.
Describing the act as “unfortunate”, the Commissioner of Police, CP Mamman Bitrus Giwa, has ordered further investigation and the arrest of anyone linked to the crime.
He also issued a caution to the public: “The Command urges the public to report suspected kidnappings immediately and avoid hasty ransom payments, emphasising that some cases, like this one, may be staged.”
Police authorities assured the public of their commitment to stamping out all forms of criminal activity in the state.