By Premium Times
A local security service in Ondo State, Nigeria, has arrested two teenage girls for faking a kidnapping and demanding ransom from their own mother.
The security network, called Amotekun, paraded the teenagers alongside other suspects arrested for different crimes in Akure, the state capital.
The commander, Adetunji Adeleye, said the two female pupils, aged 13 and 15, were in high school.
The suspects, Adeleye said, hid somewhere at Oka-Akoko, and called their mother, pretending to be kidnappers who abducted them and demanded N100,000 (R2,200).
The girls also threatened the monarch of their town that they would kill the abductees in their custody unless the ransom was paid within 24 hours.
The youngest confessed and said her elder sister lured her to the crime.
“On that day, my sister and I spent the night in our grandma’s place and left there around 6 am the following day. On our way back home, my sister told me that she had a plan to get money from our mother,” she said.
“She then revealed her plan to declare ourselves kidnapped and asked for N50,000 (R1,100) each ransom from our mother. It was my sister who taught me what to say when she put a call through to my mother.
“When we called, we didn’t know that it was the monarch that was speaking with us on the telephone when we threatened to kill our victims in captivity if they failed to pay the ransom quickly.”
The Amotekun boss said the arrest of the suspects was in collaboration with the operatives of the Department of State Services as the telephone line being used by the girls was tracked to where they were hiding.
“The 28 suspects we are parading today (Monday) shows that we have more kidnappings than any other criminal activities. This is in continuation of our efforts at ensuring that kidnapping in Ondo State becomes a thing of the past,” Adeleye said.
“We have people who kidnapped themselves and raised alarm and in our diligent investigations, we were able to unravel the mystery surrounding their disappearance to the extent that they have confessed.”
Adeleye did not disclose what decision or punishment would be given to the girls.
Pictured above: AI-generated image of two schoolgirls
