The Delta State Police Command has uncovered an alleged self-kidnapping plot involving a Delta State resident, Michael James, who allegedly faked his abduction in a bid to extort N25 million from his family.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, disclosed the development on Sunday while sharing a video of the suspect’s confession.
According to Edafe, the Command received a distress report that James had been kidnapped and immediately launched an investigation, deploying digital intelligence and other operational resources to trace his 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 had escaped from the kidnappers,” Edafe said.
He added that further investigation revealed that the kidnapping was staged by the suspect himself.
During interrogation, James confessed that he orchestrated the fake abduction because he had spent money belonging to his brother and sister and had no means of repaying them.
The suspect said he left home on July 1 under the pretext of disposing of refuse but abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid in a nearby bush. He later called his mother, claiming he had been kidnapped and that his abductors were demanding a ransom of N25 million.
James further admitted that he subsequently called his family again, falsely claiming that the kidnappers were beating him and requesting that N700,000 be transferred to them.
He explained that after learning from his mother that the police and local vigilantes had begun efforts to rescue him, he became anxious. As rain approached later that day, he left the bush on a motorcycle, relocated to another area, and called his family to claim he had escaped from his abductors.
Edafe said the suspect eventually confessed that he staged the kidnapping to extort money from his family.
The Police Command reiterated its commitment to thoroughly investigating reported kidnapping cases and warned members of the public against making false reports or staging criminal incidents, stressing that such acts waste security resources and constitute criminal offences.
