ESUT Student Fakes Her Own Kidnap, Demands ₦10M Ransom to Fund Boyfriend’s Business

An ESUT student, Chinecherem Nwaokoye, has been arrested alongside her boyfriend for allegedly faking her own kidnap to extort ₦10 million from her family.

The Anambra State Police Command has arrested Chinecherem Nwaokoy, a student of Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT), and her boyfriend, Chinecherem Aronu, for allegedly staging a fake kidnapping in an attempt to extort money from her own family.

According to a statement by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, the student had earlier told her family she was returning home from school but never arrived. Her phone remained switched off, sparking concern.

The family later received a call on July 9, 2025, from a man claiming to have kidnapped her, demanding a ransom of ₦10 million, which was eventually negotiated down to ₦3 million, with ₦1 million paid into the victim’s own bank account.

Acting on intelligence, operatives from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) stormed a lodge at the UNIZIK Temporary Site in Awka, where Nwaokoye was found alive with her boyfriend.

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Upon interrogation, the duo confessed to orchestrating the fake abduction. Nwaokoye admitted she got the idea after watching a movie and had planned to use the ransom money to help her boyfriend start a business.

Reacting to the incident, the Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu, ordered that the suspects be charged to court immediately. He condemned the act, calling it a “clear sign of deepening moral decay among some youths.”

He also urged parents to monitor their children’s activities closely, warning that the police would not tolerate such deceptive criminal behavior.