A resident of Delta State, Michael James, has confessed to allegedly orchestrating his own abduction in a failed attempt to extort N25 million from his family.
The Punch reported that James made the admission in an interrogation video shared on Sunday by the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe.
According to the suspect, he devised the plan because he had spent money belonging to his brother and sister and could no longer repay them.
Recounting how the incident unfolded, James said he was sent to dispose of refuse on July 1 but chose not to return home. Instead, he abandoned his wheelbarrow and hid inside a nearby bush.
“My name is Michael James. I am from Edo State, but I live in Delta State. I kidnapped myself. The reason I kidnapped myself was that I owed my sister and my brother, and I had already spent the money. I had no way of paying it back.
“On the 1st of this month, they asked me to go and throw away the trash. After throwing away the trash, I parked my wheelbarrow and entered the bush.
“After some time, my mum started calling me, but I did not answer. Later, I called my mum and told her that I had been kidnapped and that the kidnappers were demanding N25m. Then I ended the call.”
He further disclosed that he later contacted his mother again, claiming his supposed captors were assaulting him and demanding a payment of N700,000.
According to James, he became anxious after learning that the police and local vigilantes had begun searching for him.
As rain approached later that day, he said he left the bush on a motorcycle and relocated before informing his family that he had managed to escape from the alleged kidnappers.
“They kept calling me, but I did not answer. Later, when I picked up, I told her that the kidnappers were flogging me and that she should transfer N700,000 to them.
“They kept calling again, but I did not answer. When I later picked up, my mum told me that the police and vigilantes were already handling the matter and that they would rescue me.
“In the evening, I realised it was about to rain, so I took a motorcycle to another place. I then called them and told them that I had escaped from the kidnappers,” James narrated.
Commenting on the incident, Delta State Police spokesperson Bright Edafe said officers immediately launched an investigation after receiving the kidnapping report, deploying digital intelligence to track the suspect’s whereabouts.
According to Edafe, operatives traced James to the location where he claimed he was being held, only for him to emerge and insist that he had escaped from his abductors.
Edafe added that subsequent investigations revealed the kidnapping claim was fabricated.
“We received a distress call that he was kidnapped. The command embarked on digitally generated intelligence and trailed him to where he was allegedly being kept, only for the suspect to run out, claiming he escaped from the kidnappers.
“He later confessed that he kidnapped himself so he could extort his family the sum of N25m,” Edafe wrote.
The incident adds to a growing number of cases in which individuals have allegedly staged their own kidnappings to obtain money from relatives.
A similar case was reported in June when the Ogun State Police Command arrested eight foreign nationals in Adiyan, Agbado area, over an alleged self-kidnapping syndicate designed to extort money from family members living abroad.
Police said investigations established that the reported abduction had been deliberately orchestrated for financial gain.
