The Lagos State Police
Command has arrested a Ghanaian, Enyolam Believe, for allegedly kidnapping her
niece in the Ikotun area of the state.
Punch learnt that Believe,
who had been living in Lagos for the past 17 years, conspired with her friend,
Agatha Aigbomiam, to commit the crime last Tuesday.
The eight-year-old victim was alleged to have
been kidnapped on her way to school and taken to Ogun State by Aigbomiam.
The victim was said to
have raised the alarm which drew the attention of residents, leading to the
arrest of both suspects.
A police source said 43-year-old Believe and
the victim’s mother had searched for the child, including reporting a case of
missing person at a police station.
He said, “The suspect
and the girl’s mother are sisters. Believe, however, colluded with her friend,
Aigbomiam, to abduct the girl so that she could make money from the mother.
“Their plan was that the friend would kidnap
the child and hide her somewhere in Ogun State, while she would negotiate the
ransom with the mother on the phone.
“When the girl went missing, the girl’s mother
called her and they both searched for the girl. She even suggested that they
should report the case to the police. The mother never suspected that she was
behind the kidnap.”
The source said while people were looking for
the girl, the suspect was also trailing the movement of her friend and the
victim on the phone.
He said the kidnapped girl, while in captivity,
raised the alarm that Aigbomiam was not her mother and called for help from
some Ogun residents, who came to her aid.
The matter was said to have been reported to a
community leader, who invited the police.
The source said, “When the police discovered
that Aigbomiam was not alone in the crime and she was receiving calls from
Believe, they decided to play along. They asked her to invite Believe to Ogun
State.
“It was when she arrived that the police
arrested her. The case was subsequently transferred to Lagos State where the offence
was committed. That was where the mother of the girl saw that her own sister
was behind her ordeal.”
The suspects, who were paraded before
journalists at the police command headquarters in Ikeja on Thursday, confessed
to the crime.
Believe said she hoped to make N30,000 from the
kidnap, adding that she needed the money for a business.
-Punch
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