Manny Ita
The Lagos State Police Command has apprehended a 53-year-old technician and his 48-year-old wife for allegedly faking their own abduction on Wednesday, January 21, 2026, in a bid to extort ₦10 million from their family members. The couple, who reside in the Badagry area of the state, reportedly orchestrated the scheme to raise funds to recover a property they had lost due to severe financial distress. The incident began when relatives received frantic notifications claiming the pair had been intercepted by kidnappers, followed by a formal ransom demand for their release.
Suspicion arose among family members, leading them to report the matter to the authorities rather than yielding to the ransom demands. Using advanced technical intelligence and geolocating the source of the communication, detectives tracked the “kidnappers’ hideout” on Friday, January 23, 2026, only to discover the couple unharmed and waiting for the payment. During the subsequent parade of suspects, the couple confessed to the crime, explaining that they believed their relatives possessed the means to help them but would only do so under the duress of an emergency.
Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, condemned the act, emphasizing that such hoaxes place an undue burden on the state’s security infrastructure. “Staging a kidnap is a serious criminal offense. It diverts the attention of the police from real life-and-death situations,” Hundeyin stated. The suspects remain in custody and are expected to face charges including conspiracy, providing false information, and attempted extortion under the Lagos State Kidnapping Prohibition Law.
