The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 28-year-old female student of the Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT) and her 30-year-old boyfriend, Chinecherem Aronu, for allegedly staging her own kidnapping in a plot to extort money from her family.
According to police investigations, the female suspect faked her abduction to help her boyfriend raise funds to start a business.
She reportedly got the idea after watching a movie and decided to carry out the plan by contacting her family and claiming she was on her way home from school, only to later go into hiding with her boyfriend in a lodge near UNIZIK Temp Site, Awka.
In a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) tracked the location of the suspects through intelligence-led efforts following a report of her disappearance on July 8, 2025.
READ ALSO: Katsina Gov Radda stable after minor road crash
Ikenga said the victim’s family had received a call the following day from an unknown male voice—later identified as the boyfriend—who demanded a ransom of ₦10 million. After negotiations, the amount was reduced to ₦3 million, and a partial payment of ₦1 million was made into the victim’s personal bank account.
“Upon arrest, the suspects confessed to orchestrating the fake kidnap as a scheme to extort the victim’s family,” Ikenga stated.
“The female suspect said she acted out the plan to help her boyfriend raise capital for his business.”
The Police Command warned that such criminal acts, even if self-inflicted, would be treated with full legal consequences and urged the public to desist from engaging in deceptive practices.