The Edo State Police Command has arrested a 19-year-old, Godstime Abhulime, for alleged kidnapping a four-year-old pupil and collecting a ransom of N300,000.
the State Commissioner of Police, Funsho Adegboye, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect kidnapped the minor, a primary school pupil at Emaudo in Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of Edo State.
Adegboye said the suspect would soon be arraigned in court.
It was gathered that the suspect, who related to the victim, lured the minor out of the house and whisked her away on a motorcycle to an unknown destination.
An anonymous source close to the family, who spoke to newsmen, explained that the suspect and his accomplices kept the minor in captivity for two days before reaching out to her parents for ransom negotiation.
The source said one of the suspect’s accomplices, Destiny, popularly known as ‘Paulo’, who reached out to the victim’s family members, demanded for N7 million ransom.
He added that the family of the victim, however, reported the incident at the Ekpoma divisional police office who went on the trail of the suspect.
According to him, after much negotiations and out of fear that the kidnappers may harm the victim, the family paid N300,000 for the release of the girl.
“One of the suspects, Godstime who is relation of the victim was later arrested and confessed to the police they kidnapped the baby in order to get money to bail themselves from some cult members who threatened to kill them,” the source said.