The operatives from the Zone 2 Police Command in Onikan, Lagos, have apprehended a secondary school drop-out, Ruth Livinus, for fabricating a kidnapping scenario involving herself and her lover to extort money.
The spokesperson for the Zone 2 Police Command, Ayuba Umma, disclosed this incident on Thursday, revealing that Ruth concocted the plan to obtain funds from her widowed mother to start a hairdressing salon.
The 27-year-old woman, along with her live-in boyfriend, Isaac Gabriel, who allegedly proposed the scheme, was arrested. They were paraded with 21 other suspects at the Zone 2 Police Command.
The PPRO said, “A case of kidnapping was reported to the office of the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2 Command Headquarters, by one Jona Jumai, that sometime in May 2024, her sister, Ruth Livinus, who works as a domestic staff in the Ajah area of Lagos, went missing.”
She continued, “Few days later, the family members were contacted via a strange telephone number that Ruth Livinus had been kidnapped and was in the custody of the kidnappers, who demanded a five million naira ransom to be paid into a designated account.”
To instill fear, a photo showing Ruth tied up in a bush path was sent to her mother.
Despite her limited means, Ruth’s mother managed to pay N60,000 before the perpetrators were tracked down to their hideout in Ikorodu, Lagos.
In a remorseful tone, Ruth, hailing from Kaduna state, admitted to reporters, “I wanted to use the money to open a hairdressing shop for myself. My boyfriend, Gabriel, sold the idea to me. We were caught because my stepsister tracked the number used to contact my mother, and that led the Police to us. I have only succeeded in collecting N60,000 as ransom before we were arrested.”
However, Gabriel, aged 24, from Benue State, insisted that Ruth originated the idea.
He stated, “Ruth is a friend; she said she wanted to open a shop, and I told her to tell her mother. She initially suggested we should tell her brother that she was sick, but we concluded that the money that would be sent would not be much. She then said she would lie to her mother that she had been kidnapped. I only supported the idea.”
