What started as a terrifying report of a woman snatched by gunmen has ended in a police cell after investigators discovered the “victim” was actually the mastermind behind her own disappearance.
Lagos State Police have taken a 26-year-old housewife and her 30-year-old accomplice into custody for allegedly staging a kidnapping to swindle N2.5 million from her husband, who lives in South Africa.
The Phony Ransom
The ordeal began on November 24 when the husband contacted the police in a panic. He claimed his wife had been abducted by armed men who were demanding N10 million. After a round of desperate negotiations, the “kidnappers” agreed to take N3 million. However, even after the husband paid N2.5 million, his wife remained missing.
The Lagos State Police Special Squad immediately launched a search operation. Shortly after, the woman was “released” and reunited with her family. But when detectives sat her down for a debriefing, her story began to crumble.
A Tale of Two Stories
The woman claimed she was abducted by six men in a silver Toyota Venza and taken to a hidden location. She told police that the kidnappers forced her husband to pay the ransom into her own bank account before she handed the cash over to them. She also claimed they stole her iPhone 12 Pro Max.
However, SP Abimbola Adebisi noted that the details simply didn’t line up.
The investigation took a sharp turn when police tracked a lead to Ede, Osun State. There, they arrested an accomplice who confessed to the plot. He admitted he had provided his SIM card and a One-Time Password (OTP) so the wife could set up a secret WhatsApp account to negotiate the ransom with her own husband.
Caught in the Act
Faced with the evidence, the wife confessed that the entire kidnapping was a hoax.
The police also managed to track down her “stolen” iPhone. It wasn’t with kidnappers; she had sold it to a man for N380,000, specifically warning him never to put a SIM card into the device to avoid being tracked.
The Consequences
Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Olohundare Jimoh, condemned the act, noting that such hoaxes waste vital police resources that should be used for real emergencies.
The suspect and her partner-in-crime are currently in custody and will be charged in court once the final investigation is complete.
