The Lagos State Police Command has nabbed two undergraduate friends who masterminded a deceitful kidnapping plot to extort money from their own families.
The culprits, 21-year-old Balogun Ayodele, a student at Lagos State University of Education, and Okuomo Dennis, also 21, studying at the National Institute of Information Technology, concocted the scheme to dupe their parents.
Dennis hatched the plan, suggesting they stage Ayodele’s abduction to squeeze money out of his father, a driver at an undisclosed company.
On February 2, 2024, Ayodele vanished from home, triggering a fabricated ransom demand of $20,000 in Bitcoin sent to his panicked father.
Faced with the lack of compliance, the duo resorted to a desperate move, capturing Ayodele in a nearby bush, snapping nude photos, and sending them to his father with menacing threats.
Their ploy failing, Dennis vanished next, hoping his own disappearance would prompt his father to cough up cash. The cycle repeated, with ransom demands escalating from $80,000 to a staggering $100,000.
After a week of hiding, they emerged on March 16, 2024, feigning escape from their supposed captors. Ayodele, purportedly traumatized, was rushed to the hospital, further deepening his father’s distress.
Their facade crumbled when they surrendered to authorities, confessing to their elaborate hoax during interrogation.
