By RismadarVoice Media
December 21, 2025
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old housewife and her 30-year-old accomplice for allegedly staging her own kidnapping to extort N2.5 million from her husband.
The command’s spokesperson, Abimbola Adebisi, confirmed the arrest in a statement issued on Saturday in Lagos.
Adebisi said the police received a distress call on November 24 from the husband of the suspect, who reported that his wife had been abducted by armed men.
According to the caller, the alleged kidnappers initially demanded N10 million, later reduced to N3 million. Despite paying N2.5 million, the woman was reportedly not released.
Following the report, the Command Special Squad deployed human and technical resources to track the alleged kidnappers. “The supposed victim was eventually released and reunited with her family,” Adebisi said.
During debriefing, the woman claimed she had been abducted by six armed men in a silver Toyota Venza, taken to a hideout, and dispossessed of her iPhone 12 Pro Max.
She further alleged that the ransom paid by her husband was first credited into her bank account before being handed over to the kidnappers.
However, police investigations revealed inconsistencies in her story.
On December 3, operatives apprehended her accomplice in the Ede area of Osun State and recovered a SIM card used to register the WhatsApp account through which ransom negotiations were conducted.
During interrogation, the accomplice admitted that the suspect requested the use of his SIM card to create the WhatsApp account and provided the one-time password (OTP) that allowed her to operate it.
Confronted with the evidence, the suspect confessed to faking her kidnapping to extort money from her husband, who resides in South Africa.
Further investigations led to the recovery of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which had been sold by the suspect to a 34-year-old man for N380,000.
The buyer told police he was warned not to insert any SIM card into the device.
Adebisi said investigations are ongoing, and both the suspect and her accomplice will be charged to court upon conclusion.
She added that the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Olohundare Jimoh, reiterated the command’s commitment towards protecting lives and property while warning the public against false reporting and acts that divert critical security resources.
