Police Arrest Two for Faking Kidnap to Extort Family in Anambra State

 
In a case that blurs the line between fiction and felony, the Anambra State Police Command has arrested two individuals for allegedly faking a kidnapping and attempting to extort ₦10 million from the family of one of the supposed victims.

According to a statement released on Monday by the police Command’s spokesperson, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, the suspects—28-year-old Chinecherem Okonkwo, a female student of Enugu State University of Science and Technology, and 30-year-old Chinecherem Aronu—concocted the abduction in a bid to raise funds.

The duo reportedly staged the crime from a lodge located at the UNIZIK Temporary Site in Awka, where they were later apprehended by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad.

The incident began unfolding on Tuesday, July 8, 2025, when Okonkwo informed her family that she was traveling home from school. She never arrived—and her phone remained switched off for the rest of the day.

By the next morning, her family received a chilling call from a man claiming to have kidnapped her, demanding ₦10 million in ransom. After tense negotiations, the sum was reduced to ₦3 million, with a ₦1 million part-payment transferred—shockingly—into Okonkwo’s own bank account.

An intelligence-led police investigation soon unraveled the hoax. Upon arrest and interrogation, both suspects confessed to masterminding the plan.

"The female suspect admitted that the idea came from a movie she watched," said SP Ikenga. "She had hoped to give the money to her boyfriend, Aronu, to start a business."

Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, ordered the immediate prosecution of the suspects and condemned the act as a disturbing reflection of “deepening moral decay among some youths.”

This incident adds to a worrying trend of self-orchestrated crimes aimed at defrauding family members. While the plot may have sounded like something out of a film, the consequences are very real—and severe.

As the suspects await trial, authorities are urging parents and guardians to maintain open lines of communication with their children and remain vigilant.