Police operatives in Lagos State have arrested two undergraduate friends, who faked their kidnap to ext%rt their parents.
The command’s spokesperson, Benjamin Hundeyin, in a statement on Thursday, March 21, identified the suspects as Ayodele Balogun, 21, a 200-level student of Education at the Lagos State University, Ijanikin, and his friend, Dennis Okuomo, 21, a student of NIIT Lagos.
The suspects had demanded about $100,000 from their parents as ransom, thr£@tening that failure of which might lead to their exec¥tion.
On February 2, 2024, Ayodele reportedly disappeared from home and thereafter used his phone to send his father a text demanding $20,000 ransom for his release.
According to Hundeyin, it was Dennis’ idea because Ayodele is from a poor family and his best friend; he wanted to use it to raise money for him so that he can be able to take care of his family.
“On February 2, 2024, Ayodele reportedly disappeared from home and thereafter used his phone to send his father a text demanding $20,000 ransom for his release.
Dennis’ father is a hotelier and has a room permanently reserved for his son, Dennis. That was where Ayodele hid. He successfully avoided detection since nobody checks in there. When the ransom wasn’t forthcoming, they decided to take Ayodele to a nearby bush, stripped him n@ked, and took pictures of him lying on the ground. They sent the pictures to his father, thr£@tening h@rm if the money wasn’t paid.:
Later, they sent messages to Ayodele’s father mentioning names of other members of his family, which further escalated the fear. When Ayodele’s father reached out to his son’s friend, Dennis, he denied knowing anything about his friend’s disappearance…(continue reading from next slide.)
