DELSU student ‘fakes own kidnap, demands N50m ransom from dad’

Two suspects including a final-year student of Delta State University (DELSU) have been arrested over an alleged fake kidnapping. 

They were arrested on June 11 after the father of the suspected self-kidnapper — identified as Nelson Eserada — complained to the Abraka division regarding the abduction of his son.

The Department of Banking & Finance student allegedly conspired with his cousin Jerry Lawrence to stage his kidnap in an attempt to extort N50 million in Bitcoin from his father.

While parading the suspects on Thursday, Bright Edafe, the Delta state police PRO, said the suspects “committed a unique kind of offence”.

Edafe said the suspects were in police custody, adding that there is an ongoing investigation into the matter.

“Today we will be parading two suspects who this time committed a unique kind of offence. We call it self-kidnapping. They are blood-related. They conspired among themselves and staged a fake kidnap just to extort money from the father,” he said.

“Initially when we got the report, we thought it was a case of kidnapping. But they actually tied the young man and send the video to the father demanding for N50 million in Bitcoin. The father already sent N5 million in bitcoin and one of the suspects has told us that he has spent N2 million from that money and it is remaining N3 million.

“Parents should train their children, if they don’t when they grow up, they might become a mess to you and society.”