Rita Enemuru, Reporting
A teenage girl is in police custody after masterminding her own abduction in a bid to fleece her peasant farmer mother of a hefty ransom, authorities in Delta State have revealed.
The suspect, identified as 17-year-old Chiamaka, a Senior Secondary School 3 student, allegedly conspired with three friends to fake her kidnapping, demanding N500,000 from her unsuspecting parent.
Parading the suspect, Police Public Relations Officer SP Bright Edafe took to his Facebook page to share the bizarre details of the case.
According to the police, the teenager and her accomplices left their residence in Ugolo and travelled to Port Harcourt, where they checked into a hotel while maintaining the pretence that she had been abducted.
The ruse prompted her mother, described as a widow of limited means, to scramble for funds, borrowing money to meet the ransom demand in hopes of securing her daughter’s safe return.
It was during this frantic process that the mother reported the incident to the police, triggering an investigation that quickly unravelled the plot.
“During the course of our investigation, it became clear this was not a genuine kidnapping,” SP Edafe explained.
Upon her arrest, Chiamaka confessed to the crime, though she attempted to shift blame onto her newfound associates.
“My friends and I planned it,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to do it, but they forced me into it. We used the money to buy clothes.”
SP Edafe expressed concern over the growing trend of self-kidnapping among youths seeking quick cash.
“We are increasingly seeing cases involving young people between the ages of 15 and 20,” he said.
“In this case, the suspect revealed that one of her friends had previously pulled the same stunt on her own mother. They decided to replicate it.”
He confirmed that the three accomplices remain at large, with a manhunt currently under way to apprehend them.
The case has sparked outrage locally, with many expressing sympathy for the victimised mother, who is said to be devastated by her daughter’s betrayal.
