‘I planned my own abduction’ – Delta man admits alleged N25m extortion from family

Mr. Michael James, who hails from Delta State, has recounted the reasons behind his alleged self-kidnapping plot to force his family members to give him N25 million.

According to the video provided by the Delta State Police Force Public Relations Officer, Bright Edafe on Sunday, Mr. James resorted to such behavior since he was indebted to both his brother and sister; debts which he had used up and could not repay.

He added that on July 1, he was told to get rid of the refuse, but he refused to return home and decided to stay in a bush close-by, abandoning his wheelbarrow.

“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.”

The suspect added that he later called his mother again, claiming that his abductors were beating him and he had transferred N700,000 to them.

He said that after learning from his mother that the police and local vigilantes had launched efforts to rescue him, he became worried.

According to him, when it was about to rain later that day, he left the bush on a motorcycle to another location before calling his family to claim that he had escaped from his captors.

“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.

Reacting, the Police Public Relations Officer of the Delta State Command, Bright Edafe, in a message accompanying the video, said the command swiftly responded to the reported kidnapping by deploying digital intelligence to trace the suspect’s location.

“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.

This is not the first time individuals have taken advantage of the rampant kidnapping incident to stage a self-kidnapping scheme to extort money.