Friends kidnapped young graduate to collect ransom from parents

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It was learnt that 27-year-old Anochie was kidnapped through the collusion of some of her friends, who wanted to make money from her family but luck however run out on the gang as a female undergraduate of a university in Lagos who is her friend, has been arrested by the Ogun State Police Command in Lagos and she is assisting the operatives with useful information in their investigations.

Anochie, a graduate of Nursing, rounded off her programme in May, and graduated from the private university in June 2016. She was said to have returned to her off-campus residence at Ilishan, where she was abducted.

The case was reported at the Ikenne Police Division and was later transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad.

The kidnappers, it was gathered, had contacted the family, demanding the payment of N10 million as ransom and after negotiations, the money was reduced to N5 million.

The victim’s sister, Judith Nze, narrated that efforts by the family to persuade the suspects to take the sum of N300,000, has been futile, as the abductors threatened to kill her sister if the family did not withdraw the case from the police.

“She has finished her programme in the school and was just waiting for some clearance. I learnt that the place she stays is isolated.

She was taken on Sunday and since then we have all lost our peace. I have stopped going to the office because I can’t concentrate.

Initially, we thought it was a joke until the kidnappers contacted us and demanded N10m as ransom. They later reduced it to N5m.

They have refused the N300,000 we offered them, insisting that they would kill her if we don’t pay the money.

They also said we must withdraw the case from the police as a condition for her release. My mother spoke with her and she did not sound good. We are afraid they might harm her.

We are just appealing to them to release her.”

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A police source said investigations has so far shown that the victim was kidnapped based on information from an insider, adding that a female undergraduate of a university in Lagos had been linked with the abduction.

“It was an organised crime. Based on preliminary investigations, it appeared that her friends conspired against her. It was a set-up.

We believe the kidnappers think that her parents are wealthy and they could make money from them. A female student of a school in Lagos has already been arrested.”