[ads-post]
Officers of Plateau Police Command are investigating the
circumstances of how a 15-year-old boy staged his own kidnap and demanded a
ransom from his father for his release.
The teenager and four of his older friends, who are now all in
custody, demanded a N500,000 ransom, the police said.
They had planned to use the money for a school-leaving
graduation party.
Three days before the staged kidnap, the boy's father had
sold his car to raise money for the family's upkeep. The 15-year-old came up
with his plan after searching the family home and failing to find the cash from
the car sale.
"The money had been paid into the father's account, so
it was not there"
So the friends pretended to be the kidnappers and contacted
his father.
"They warned him the son had been taken far away from
Jos and he should not report to the police. The father reported only after the
threat became very serious," the police spokesman said.
The alleged abduction was foiled when officers tracked down
the phone number used to make the ransom calls to an apartment in the city.
The teenager and his friends were having a conversation when
police stormed the building.
"The father felt very terrible at the discovery. His
son had not asked him for money for the party beforehand.”
Although the plan was the son's idea, the expert execution
of it by his friends - who are aged between 18 and 22 - has made officers
suspicious.
Police were now investigating if they had abducted people
for ransom in the past, Mr Tyopev said.
Kidnapping for ransom is rampant in Nigeria. Gangs
nationwide kidnap both rich and poor people, often collecting ransoms of up to
$150,000 - and sometimes killing abductees whose families fail to pay.
Police chief Mohammed Adamu said that between January and
April this year at least 685 people had been kidnapped across the country.
0 Comments