The Lagos State Police Command apprehended two undergraduates for orchestrating their kidnap to extort money from their parents.
The culprits, identified as 21-year-old Balogun Ayodele, a second-year student at the Lagos State University of Education, Ijanikin, and Okuomo Dennis, also 21 and enrolled at the National Institute of Information Technology, Lagos, were arrested following a failed attempt to secure ransom payments.
The scheme unfolded when Dennis proposed the idea to stage Ayodele’s abduction to demand a $20,000 ransom from Ayodele’s father, a company driver. Following Ayodele’s “disappearance” on February 2, 2024, a ransom demand was sent to his father, instructing payment to a specified Bitcoin wallet.
According to Benjamin Hundeyin, the Lagos State Police Command spokesperson, Ayodele was hidden in a reserved room at Dennis’ father’s hotel, evading detection for days. When their ransom demand yielded no result, the duo escalated their ploy by sending distressing images of Ayodele and later Dennis, feigning their captivity in a bush.
Despite their elaborate attempts to intimidate their families, including threats to other family members and demands increasing to $100,000, the ransom was not paid. The situation prompted Ayodele’s father to seek help from his employer and ultimately led to police involvement.
“After a week in the wilderness and with no ransom in sight, the pair decided to abandon their charade on March 16, 2024, claiming to have escaped their captors,” Hundeyin revealed.
Hundeyin added that, “Ayodele was taken to the hospital for treatment as his father believed he was kidnapped. They were arrested after they turned themselves in. During investigation, they confessed to the crime.”
