The operatives of the Ondo State Police Command have arrested a 42 year old woman, Mrs Sanmori Taiwo, and her 62-year-old husband, Pastor Sanmori Joshua, for allegedly faking her abduction with the intent to swindle her relatives abroad of the sum of N10m.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Olushola Ayanlade, said in a statement on Wednesday that the Mrs Taiwo and her husband were arrested for the crime on August 23 at the couple’s residence on Road 5, PowerLine, Ondo City.
The Police Spokesman said Mrs Taiwo locked herself inside her room while her husband contacted her relatives to alert them of her ‘abduction’ by gunmen.
The husband was said to have told the relatives that the kidnappers were demanding a ransom of N10 million.
He said that one of the relatives Mr Fasegha O. Joseph who was suspicion of the claim alerted the police through a petition to the Commissioner of Police, CP Adebowale Lawal.
Ayanlade said that detectives with the backing of the men of Enu-owa Division in Ondo City, stormed the couple’s residence where the woman was found.
The statement read, “Suspicious of the claims, one of the relatives, Mr Fasegha O. Joseph, through a written petition, reported the matter to the Commissioner of Police, CP Adebowale Lawal, who directed the Command’s Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad (SAKS).
“Acting swiftly on the report, an investigation team from the Command’s anti-kidnapping squad, supported by Enu-owa Division in Ondo City, proceeded to Sanmori’s residence in Ondo Town, where Mrs Taiwo was found.
“She falsely claimed to have just been released by kidnappers after a ransom of Five Million Naira was allegedly paid.
“Upon further interrogation at the Command, Mrs Taiwo confessed that the abduction was staged as a self-kidnapping scheme, masterminded to extort money from her relatives abroad under the pretense of securing her release.
“She further admitted that her motive was to settle debts and provide for her personal needs,” he said.
