Police Arrest Two Undergraduates for Faking Their Own Kidnapping

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two undergraduate friends, Balogun Ayodele and Okuomo Dennis, for faking their own kidnapping to extort money from their parents.

Ayodele is a 200-level student at Lagos State University of Education, Ijanikin, while Dennis is a student at the National Institute of Information Technology, Lagos.

The plan to stage Ayodele’s kidnap was reportedly initiated by Dennis, who believed that they could extort money from Ayodele’s father, a driver at an unnamed company.

On February 2, 2024, Ayodele disappeared from home and sent his father a text demanding $20,000 ransom for his release, to be paid to a Bitcoin wallet address.

Ayodele’s father approached his company for assistance, but the company insisted that the matter be reported to the Police.

In the meantime, Ayodele was kept in one of the rooms in Dennis’ father’s hotel, where he successfully avoided detection.

When the ransom was not forthcoming, they decided to take Ayodele to a nearby bush, stripped him naked, and took pictures of him lying on the ground.

They sent the pictures to Ayodele’s father, threatening harm if the money wasn’t paid.

Later, they sent messages to Ayodele’s father mentioning names of other family members, further escalating the fear.

When Ayodele’s father reached out to Dennis, he denied knowing anything about his friend’s disappearance.

On March 11, 2024, Dennis decided to fake his own disappearance, with the hope that his father would pay.

They made it look like the same kidnappers, who abducted Ayodele, came for Dennis.

The two families were desperate, and the students increased the ransom to $100,000.

The students stayed in a nearby bush for five days, but when they couldn’t get any money, they went back to Dennis’ father’s hotel and claimed they had escaped from the kidnappers’ den.

They were arrested after they turned themselves in and confessed to the crime during the investigation.