Police in Ogun have arrested a 17-year-old girl, Seun Adekunle, and her 25-year-old boyfriend, Basit Olasunkanmi, for faking her kidnap.
Ms Adekunle, who lives at 32 Agura Road Abeokuta, was reportedly lured into the act by Mr Olasunkanmi, a butcher, who lives at No 4, Ogun Radio, Abeokuta.
Ogun police spokesperson, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said on Friday that they were arrested at their hideouts following a report by Adekunle’s mother, Bukky.
Oyeyemi said the mother reported at Enugada Police Division on Thursday that her daughter had been missing since she was sent on errand to Lafenwa market on Monday.
The spokesperson said the mother told the police that two days after, she received a message from someone demanding N500,000 as ransom.
Oyeyemi added that the woman also got a call from an unknown person two days later who claimed to have kidnapped the girl and repeated the demand of N500,000 as ransom.
“She also said the caller also warned her not to make a mistake of reporting to the police if she still needs her daughter,” the spokesperson said.
“Upon the report, the DPO Enugada Division SP Baba Hamzat quickly led his detectives on a technical and intelligence-based investigation which led them to the hideout where the girl and her boyfriend are hibernating and pretending to be with kidnappers. They were promptly arrested and brought to the station.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that the boyfriend who is a butcher was the one who brainwashed the girl and lured her into the devilish plan because he needed money to settle some only God knows problem.”
Ogun police commissioner, Kenneth Ebrimson, according to the spokesperson, has ordered the immediate transfer of the case to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.