Police arrest 18-year-old girl for staging own abduction in Edo

An 18-year-old girl, Obehi Odine, has been arrested by operatives of the Edo State Police Command for allegedly staging her own kidnapping.

The Public Relations Officer of the Command, ASP Eno Ikoedem, disclosed this on Tuesday in a statement made available to newsmen in Benin City.

Ikoedem said the suspect demanded N10 million ransom before she was arrested by operatives of the Ekpoma division on January 12, 2026.

“Following a report of a suspected kidnapping along Old INEC Road, Ekpoma, received at about noon on 12th January, 2026, the new DPO immediately swung into action and deployed operational resources to track the caller,” the Edo police spokesperson said.

According to her, technical intelligence and field investigations led to the arrest of the suspect, which later revealed a case of self-kidnapping.

Ikoedem alleged that the suspect has  confessed to the crime, admitting that the incident was deliberately fabricated to extort money.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Command, Monday Agbonika has warned members of the public against engaging in false kidnapping reports and other deceptive acts.

Agbonika noted that such actions waste critical security resources, divert attention from genuine emergencies, create unnecessary panic, and undermine public confidence.

He vowed that anyone caught in the act would be prosecuted accordingly to the laws.

He also reiterated the Command’s resolve to sustain technology-driven policing, aggressive forest dominance, and intelligence-led operations to dismantle criminal networks across the state.

The CP encouraged members of the public to continue supporting the police with timely and credible information.