16-year-old girl who staged own kidnap to avoid studying medicine arrested

Ekiti State Police Command has arrested a 16-year-old girl alongside three accomplices for faking her own kidnap.

Police spokesman Sunday Abutu said on Saturday that the suspects were arrested on Thursday at a hotel.

Mr Abutu said the supposed victim (name withheld) admitted that she conspired with those arrested to actualise her dream of becoming an actor as against studying medicine, which was her mother’s choice.

He explained that the girl and others planned to raise money from her family members to enable her to relocate from Ekiti State to pursue her dream.

“She said she did it since her mother had insisted that she goes through medical field as against her dream of becoming an actress,’’ Abutu said.

Explaining how the police got involved, the spokesman said Bolaji Femi of Bawa Estate, Ado-Ekiti, reported to the police on Tuesday that her sister who left home for Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti, on Monday did not return home.

Abutu said Femi told the police that an unknown person picked a call made to her sister’s phone and said that she was in the custody of kidnappers.

A sum of N500,000 was then paid to a bank account as ransom.

Abutu said the police tracked the owner of the bank account and he was arrested.

He said the account owner, who is also a friend to the girl’s boyfriend, led operatives to a hotel in Ado-Ekiti, where the supposed victim, her boyfriend and one other accomplice were apprehended.