A Delta State resident, Michael James, has allegedly admitted staging his own kidnapping in a bid to extort N25 million from his family.
James made the confession in an interrogation video released by the Delta State Police Command through its spokesperson, SP Bright Edafe.
According to the suspect, he devised the scheme after spending money he owed his brother and sister and being unable to repay them.
He said that on July 1, after being sent to dispose of refuse, he abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid in a nearby bush instead of returning home.
James explained that he later called his mother, claiming he had been kidnapped and that his abductors were demanding N25 million as ransom.
He also alleged during subsequent phone calls that the kidnappers were assaulting him and demanded that his family pay N700,000.
According to him, he became worried after learning that the police and local vigilantes had begun efforts to rescue him.
He said he later left the bush before rainfall and travelled to another location on a motorcycle, after which he contacted his family again and claimed he had escaped from his captors.
Reacting to the incident, Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, said the command launched an investigation immediately after receiving the report of the alleged kidnapping.
Edafe said officers deployed intelligence resources to trace the suspect’s location, where he emerged claiming he had escaped before eventually confessing that the abduction was staged.
“He later confessed that he kidnapped himself so he could extort his family of N25 million,” the police spokesperson said.
The incident adds to a growing number of reported cases in which individuals allegedly stage kidnappings in an attempt to obtain money from relatives.
