Police operatives from the Trans-Ekulu Division of the Enugu State Command have arrested a 26-year-old man, Chibuike Ugwuja, for allegedly staging his own abduction and demanding N35 million from his family.
The Command’s spokesperson, SP Daniel Ndukwe, disclosed the development in a statement issued on Monday in Enugu.
According to Ndukwe, Ugwuja was declared missing by his father on November 24 after he failed to return home from work two days earlier. During the period he was missing, the suspect reportedly sent a Facebook message to a female neighbour, claiming he had been kidnapped by unknown persons who were demanding ransom.
Police investigations were ongoing when the suspect’s father brought him to the station on November 30 at about 2 p.m.
“This followed days of intensified search operations by police operatives, who had been working to trace his whereabouts and rescue him,” the spokesperson said.
Upon interrogation, Ugwuja confessed to faking his kidnapping. He admitted that instead of returning home after work, he went to a friend’s house in Amorji Nike, Enugu, and then orchestrated the false abduction. He allegedly demanded N35 million from his family but returned home on November 29 around 9 a.m. after the ransom was not paid.
Ndukwe added that the suspect claimed frustration over his uncle’s alleged inability to buy him a tricycle as the reason behind his actions.
Ugwuja is currently in custody and will be charged in court upon the conclusion of investigations.
The Commissioner of Police, Mamman Giwa, condemned the act, describing it as a “regrettable height of criminality.” He also commended the suspect’s parents for promptly reporting the matter and urged the public to always report suspected abductions to law enforcement rather than rushing to pay ransoms.
