Delta Police Arrest Teenage Girl for Faking Own Kidnap

Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have arrested a 17-year-old SS3 student, Chiamaka, for allegedly faking her own kidnapping to extort ₦500,000 from her widowed mother, a farmer. According to the command’s spokesperson, Bright Edafe, the suspect conspired with three friends—aged 18, 18, and 20—to stage the incident. Chiamaka travelled to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where she lodged in a hotel and called her mother, demanding ransom for her release.

Edafe revealed that the victim, a poor widow, desperately sought funds to secure her daughter’s freedom while also reporting the case to the police. Investigators quickly suspected a case of “self-kidnap,” a recurring trend among youths aged 15 to 20. The spokesperson added that one of Chiamaka’s friends had repeatedly faked her own kidnapping to extort money from her mother, which influenced the suspect to do the same.

In a confessional video, Chiamaka admitted to orchestrating the kidnap under pressure from her friends. She stated that the ₦500,000 ransom was used by the group to buy clothes. “I didn’t want to do it; my friends forced me,” she claimed.

Edafe used the opportunity to warn the public, especially young people, against succumbing to negative peer pressure, noting that such actions have serious legal consequences.