15-yr-old fakes own kidnap, demands N.5m ransom

The Plateau State Police Command on Thursday paraded a 15-year-old boy who allegedly staged his own kidnap  and demanded a ransom of N500,000 from his father.

The teenager, while being paraded in Jos, told reporters that he initiated the fake kidnap with his friends in order to enable him to buy clothes and celebrate his graduation.

“I was the one who initiated the plan and not my friends. I wanted my father to give me money for clothes and to also celebrate my graduation,” he said.

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The Plateau State Commissioner of Police, Isaac Akinmoyede, while briefing newsmen on the arrest of the minor, said that five persons were arrested in a case of criminal conspiracy and kidnapping, including the victim, who stage-managed his own kidnap.

According to him, the father of the teenager, Mr Jerry Vichi, had on July 19 reported at ‘A’ Division, Jos that his son, working as an apprentice at a motor vehicle electrical wiring shop, did not return after the day’s job.

The police commissioner said that the suspect’s father reported that he received a phone call from a hidden number informing him that his son had been kidnapped and taken away from Jos.

“The father said that the caller demanded a N500,000 ransom and threatened the boy’s life,” he said.

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