Anambra police bust fake kidnap plot by student and partner to extort her own family.
Suspects used fake voice and pocketed ransom before being caught at Awka student lodge.
The Anambra State Police Command has arrested two individuals for allegedly faking a kidnapping in an attempt to extort ₦10 million from a family member.
The suspects, identified as 28-year-old Chinecherem Okonkwo, a student of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), and her alleged accomplice, 30-year-old Chinecherem Aronu, were said to have staged the fake abduction and used an unfamiliar voice to demand ransom from Okonkwo’s family.
This was revealed in a statement on Monday by the spokesperson of the Anambra State Police Command, SP Tochukwu Ikenga.
According to Ikenga, officers of the Rapid Response Squad acted on intelligence following a report about the supposed disappearance of the female student. Their investigation led them to a lodge at the UNIZIK Temporary Site in Awka, where the “victim” was found alive and in the company of the male suspect.
The police spokesperson explained that on July 8, 2025, Chinecherem contacted her family, informing them she was returning home from school but she never arrived. Her phone was unreachable that entire day.
The following day, July 9, her family received a call from a man who claimed she had been kidnapped and demanded ₦10 million for her release. After negotiations, the ransom was reduced to ₦3 million, and a sum of ₦1 million was eventually paid into the female suspect’s own bank account.
“Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, acting on an intelligence-led investigation, arrested the suspects at a lodge in Awka,” the statement said. “The suspects are Chinecherem Okonkwo, 28, and Chinecherem Aronu, 30. They were involved in a self-orchestrated kidnap attempt aimed at extorting money from Okonkwo’s family.”
Ikenga confirmed that during questioning, both suspects confessed to the staged abduction. The female suspect reportedly told police that she got the idea after watching a movie and planned to give the ransom money to her boyfriend to start a business.
Reacting to the incident, Commissioner of Police, CP Ikioye Orutugu, ordered that the suspects be charged to court without delay. He condemned the act, describing it as a disturbing sign of moral decline among some young people.
He also warned that the police would not tolerate such acts of deception and urged parents and guardians to be more involved in monitoring the behavior and peer influences of their children.
