Anambra: Teenager stages his own kidnapping, asks parents for $3 million ransom

The Anambra State Police Command has arrested two 25-year-old youths, Chinedu Nwobi and Okwudili Nweke, for allegedly conspiring with one Obiora Okoye to fake the kidnapping of his 18-year-old girlfriend, Miss Mmesoma Ifediora.

The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Tochukwu Ikenga, Superintendent of Police, who disclosed this in a statement, said the two suspects were arrested on March 14, 2026 while the “abductee” (Mmesoma) was rescued from a forest popularly known as “Malaysia Forest” located at Iruayika, Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area (LGA), Anambra State.

According to him, Mmesoma was rescued unharmed while her boyfriend (Obiora) fled the scene but after interrogation, she agreed to fake the kidnapping and demanded a ransom of N3000,000 from her parents but they managed to send N240,000 through her Opay account, trying to pay the balance.

“During interrogation, the rescued victim confessed that the kidnapping was organized in collaboration with her boyfriend, Obiora Okoye, with the intent to extort the sum of three million naira from her parents. She further revealed that both of them had sworn an oath of secrecy and had moved from place to place for a period of about two months to further the deception.

“However, Obiora, the victim’s boyfriend, also known as “Stainless”, fled the scene upon sighting the police and is currently at large. To this end, the victim admitted that his parents had already paid the sum of two hundred and forty thousand naira into his Opay account as part of the ransom demand.

“Furthermore, items recovered from the scene include ten (10) SIM cards of different networks, one MTN 4G WiFi device, two female trousers, one native “juju” gourd, one Duos mobile phone, one necklace, one white blindfold used to bind the hands and eyes of the victim and computer cables,” he further revealed