Last week, media outlets reported that a student attending Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC) in Legon had been taken by kidnappers while en route to his hometown for the Easter holiday.
The victim, a 17-year-old, reported that he was taken by kidnappers on March 28, 2024, and held for ransom.
The alleged kidnappers, according to the report, were said to have specifically demanded a staggering 34 million naira (approximately GH₵340,000) as ransom for the release of the boy.
In order to make their claim convincing, the alleged captors are said to have shared some disturbing photos with the student’s family, indicating he had been harmed.
The kidnappers also threatened to harvest and sell off the organs of their victim if his family failed to comply with their demand.
The family reportedly negotiated and paid GH₵20,000 to the kidnappers, but the kidnappers went back on their word after receiving the payment. Instead, they demanded the remaining GH₵300,000 of their initial request.
However, on Friday, April 5, 2024, the Ghana Police Service issued a statement announcing a breakthrough on the alleged kidnapping.
While confirming various parts of the initial reports, the police statement revealed that the entire kidnapping was staged with the active participation of the student at the centre of the plot.
According to the police, initial investigations revealed that the kidnapping was planned by a group consisting of four PRESEC students and two adults. The objective was to enable the supposed victim to extort money from his parents to fund his travel abroad.
“The Ghana Police Service, through an intelligence-led operation and investigation, has arrested six (6) persons, including four (4) juveniles who are all students of Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC), Legon, Accra, for staging a kidnapping incident. The two (2) adults among the six (6) are Isaac Kissi Adjei, alias Kofi Black, and Courage Teiko, alias Timmy.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that one of the juveniles, in an attempt to extort money from his parents to enable him to travel abroad, conspired with the others to stage the kidnapping incident. In the process, they demanded an amount of three hundred and forty thousand Ghana cedis (GH₵340,000.00) as ransom from the alleged victim’s parents,” the police statement said.
According to the police, the juveniles, together with their adult accomplices, succeeded in collecting an amount of GH₵20,000 from the total amount of ransom demanded before their arrest.
“The investigation further disclosed that the juveniles, together with the two others, succeeded in collecting an amount of twenty thousand Ghana cedis (GH¢20,000.00) of the total ransom demanded.
“In line with best practice, the identities of the juveniles have been withheld, and their parents and guardians have been duly informed as police investigations into the incident continue,” the statement added.
