Lagos State Police have arrested a teenager, Ujunwa Offiah, for allegedly conspiring with her boyfriend, Blessed Ifesinachi, to fake her kidnap.
The police also arrested Precious Chukwu, whose phone was allegedly used to demand a N30 million ransom from Ms Offiah’s family.
The trio were paraded on Monday by the state Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, at the command headquarters.
It was learnt that Mr Odumosu said a Uber driver who was also at the centre of the case is at large.
“This is a case of conspiracy and staged kidnapping, and the man at the centre of this case, who happens to be a Uber driver, is still at large. We are going after him because he conspired with one of these two ladies, Offiah, who faked her kidnap.
“He cleverly used the phone of another girlfriend, Precious (Chukwu), to contact Offiah’s family, informing them that their daughter had been kidnapped.
“He requested N30 million from Offiah’s family to get her freed and during negotiations, which involved the police, they settled for N700,000. While the money was being dropped, we took action and in the process arrested Offiah and Precious.”
In addition, three suspected cultists, Ismail Fatai, 23; Sherif Haruna, 22; and Dare Gabriel, 26, were also paraded for their activities in different parts of the state.
Mr Odumosu said the paraded suspects will be arraigned in court after police investigations.