2 Students Arrest For Faking Their Own Abduction

Two teenagers who pretended to be abducted and wanted $100,000 from their parents are apprehended by the police.

According to the Lagos police command, two students were taken into custody for allegedly staging their kidnapping.

The command's spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, stated on Thursday that the suspects also asked their parents for $100,000 in bitcoin.

The suspects were named by him as 21-year-old Ayodele Balogun, a student at Lagos State University (LASU), and 21-year-old Dennis Okuomo, a student at the National Institute of Information Technology (NIIT) Lagos.

“It was Dennis's idea because Ayodele is from a poor family and his best friend; he wanted to use it to raise money for him so that he will be able to take care of his family.

“Ayodele disappeared from home, while Dennis used Ayodele's phone to inform his father, Mr. Balogun, of his son's fake kidnap and demanded $20,000 (about N30 million) ransom.

“The suspects directed Ayodele's father to pay the ransom through Bitcoin, which wallet they had sent him while Ayodele was hiding in Dennis's room in his (Dennis's) father's hotel.

“Ayodele's father, a driver with a private company, received the message with many worries, wondering where to raise $20,000.

“On March 16, as no money was paid and the suspects were not comfortable with the condition of the bush, they decided to return to Dennis' room in his father's hotel.

“They told everybody that they just escaped from the kidnappers' den, and quickly called Ayodele's father to inform them about their purported escape from the kidnappers' den.

“They took Ayodele to the hospital believing that he just came from the kidnappers' den.”

The accused are in police custody, according to Hundeyin.

“Investigation so far revealed that the suspects faked their own kidnap. They are in our custody, two perpetrators of self-kidnap,” he said.