Daily Digest Online

A purported kidnapping in Ondo State was revealed to be an elaborate hoax, police report, after a family member was arrested for orchestrating his own abduction to extort ransom money from relatives. Ondo State Police Command has detailed the unraveling of an audacious staged kidnapping, where the alleged victim was the mastermind behind a plot to defraud his own family. According to police spokesperson DSP Olushola Ayanlade, the scheme began to collapse during a routine security patrol in the Kashimola/Agunla Forest area of Akure North. A joint team of police officers, Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) members, hunters, and vigilantes intercepted two men on a motorcycle. A search of the men, identified as John Peter and James Peter, yielded N800,000 in cash, a packet of cigarettes, and a bottle of schnapps—an unusual combination that prompted immediate interrogation. The pair confessed the money was a ransom intended for kidnappers holding their younger brother, Mat...