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The Enugu State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old man, Chibuike Joshua Ugwuja, for allegedly staging his own kidnapping and demanding a ransom of N35 million from his family.
Ugwuja, who works as a private security guard in an estate in Trans-Ekulu, was declared missing on November 24, 2025, after his father reported to the Trans-Ekulu Police Division that he left for work two days earlier and never returned.
According to police sources, the suspect also sent a Facebook message to their female neighbour, claiming he had been abducted by unknown gunmen inside a commercial bus and that his captors were demanding ransom.
Police operatives subsequently launched an intensive search-and-rescue operation to locate the supposed victim. But the plot unravelled on November 30, when the suspect’s father brought him to the police station.
“While investigations were ongoing, the suspect was produced by his father after days of rigorous search efforts by our operatives,” said Police Public Relations Officer SP Daniel Ndukwe, in a statement issued on Monday.
According to Ndukwe, upon interrogation, Ugwuja allegedly confessed that he faked the kidnapping.
Police said he disclosed that after closing from work, he went to stay with a friend in Amorji Nike, Enugu, from where he orchestrated the false abduction story.
“He admitted to staging the kidnap and demanding N35,000,000 from his family,” Ndukwe said.
The suspect told investigators that he returned home on November 29 after realising his family could not pay the ransom.
The command’s spokesperson quoted the suspect to have blamed his actions on frustration over his uncle’s alleged inability to buy him a tricycle.
Police say Ugwuja will be charged to court once investigations are completed.
