The Amotekun Corps, Ondo State’s Security Network Agency, has apprehended a total of 28 individuals involved in various criminal activities across the state. Notably, two secondary school students were among the suspects, taken into custody for orchestrating a fake kidnapping and extorting ransom from their own mother.
During a public presentation of the suspects at the command headquarters in Akure, the state capital, Commander Adetunji Adeleye disclosed that the two girls, aged 13 and 15 and enrolled in JSS1 and JSS3 respectively, had concealed themselves in Oka-Akoko, a region within the Akoko South-West Local Government Area. From there, they placed a call to their mother, assuming the roles of kidnappers and demanding a sum of N100,000 as ransom.
Adeleye further explained that the girls, posing as their abductors, contacted the local monarch and issued threats, stating that the ransom must be paid within 24 hours, or else they would harm the captives in their possession.
“The parade of these 28 suspects today serves to highlight the prevalence of kidnapping, which surpasses other criminal activities in our state. This ongoing effort aims to eradicate kidnapping entirely from Ondo State,” expressed Adeleye.
He emphasized that thorough investigations led to the revelation that the supposed victims had actually staged their own disappearance, ultimately confessing to their deceitful scheme.The successful apprehension of the suspects was a result of the collaborative efforts between the Amotekun Corps and the Department of State Services (DSS). Tracking the telephone line used by the girls led the authorities to their hiding place.
During interrogation, one of the girls confessed and pointed out her elder sister as the mastermind behind the crime.
The 13-year-old girl recounted, “On that day, my sister and I spent the night at our grandmother’s place and left there around 6 am the next morning. While we were on our way back home, my sister shared her plan to obtain money from our mother.”
She continued, “She proposed that we stage our own kidnapping and demand a ransom of N50,000 each from our mother. My sister instructed me on what to say when she called our mother. At the time of making the call, we were unaware that it was the local monarch speaking to us on the phone, and we resorted to threatening our victims’ lives if the ransom was not paid promptly.”
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