The Delta State Police Command has arrested a 17-year-old Senior Secondary School student, Chiamaka, for staging her own kidnapping and extorting the sum of N500,000 from her widowed mother, a peasant farmer.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the arrest in a video posted on his official Facebook page, noting that the suspect is currently in police custody.
According to SP Edafe, Chiamaka conspired with three friends to execute the scheme.
The group travelled from Ugolo to Port Harcourt, where they lodged in a hotel before setting their plan in motion.
From the hotel, Chiamaka placed a phone call to her mother, claiming she had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom for her release.
Her mother, a widow of modest means, desperately sourced the N500,000 from various people before reporting the matter to the police.
Police investigations subsequently revealed that no actual kidnapping had taken place, leading to Chiamaka’s arrest.
In her confession, the suspect admitted to planning the crime with her friends, saying, “Me and my friends planned to kidnap myself and collect money from my mother.”
She however blamed peer pressure for her actions, claiming her friends forced her into it.
Chiamaka further revealed that the entire N500,000 extorted from her mother was spent on clothing.
SP Edafe disclosed that one of Chiamaka’s friends had previously executed a similar scheme against her own mother, and the group decided to replicate it.
He noted that such cases frequently involve young people between the ages of 15 and 20.
The Command, under the leadership of CP Aina Adesola, has assured the public that all persons found culpable in the matter will be prosecuted accordingly.
