Man Hid In Bush, Demanded ₦25m Ransom From Family

Man Hid In Bush, Demanded ₦25m Ransom From Family
Says I Faked My Kidnapping Because I Owed My Siblings
The police said investigations into the incident are ongoing

A Delta State resident, Michael James, has confessed to allegedly staging his own kidnapping in a bid to extort ₦25 million from his family, claiming he resorted to the act because he could no longer repay money he owed his brother and sister.

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Eko Hot Blog reports that James made the confession in an interrogation video shared on Sunday by the spokesperson of the Delta State Police Command, Bright Edafe.

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According to the suspect, he carried out the plan after spending money he owed his siblings without any means of refunding it.

“My name is Michael James. I am from Edo State, but I live in Delta State. I kidnapped myself. The reason I kidnapped myself was that I owed my sister and my brother, and I had already spent the money. I had no way of paying it back,” he said.

James explained that on July 1, he was asked by his family to dispose of refuse. Instead of returning home, he abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid in a nearby bush.

He said he ignored several calls from his mother before eventually contacting her to claim he had been kidnapped and that his abductors were demanding a ₦25 million ransom.

“After throwing away the trash, I parked my wheelbarrow and entered the bush. After some time, my mum started calling me, but I did not answer. Later, I called my mum and told her that I had been kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding ₦25 million,” he narrated.

The suspect further claimed he later called his mother again, telling her that the kidnappers were assaulting him and demanding that ₦700,000 be transferred to them.

However, James said he became unsettled after learning from his mother that the police and local vigilantes had launched efforts to rescue him.

According to him, when it was about to rain later that day, he left the bush on a motorcycle, moved to another location and subsequently called his family to claim he had escaped from his captors.

Reacting to the incident, Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe, said the command immediately launched an investigation after receiving a distress report of the alleged kidnapping.

According to him, officers deployed digital intelligence to trace the suspect’s location.

“We received a distress call that he was kidnapped. The command embarked on digitally generated intelligence and trailed him to where he was allegedly being kept, only for the suspect to run out, claiming he escaped from the kidnappers.

“He later confessed that he kidnapped himself so he could extort his family the sum of ₦25 million,” Edafe stated.

The police said investigations into the incident are ongoing.