The Edo State Police Command has arrested a 19-year-old suspected kidnapper, Tajudeen Igikalo, who abducted a teenage girl he met on Facebook.
The police operatives also rescued the victim, a 16-year-old Senior Secondary student from Benin City.
It was gathered that the suspect met the teenager on Facebook in February, 2021. They chatted for one month, after which he invited her to his house at Egba on Benin-Auchi Road in Edo state.
On Thursday, 25 March 2021, the girl visited Tajudeen in Egba after school hours. To her greatest shock, the suspect allegedly kidnapped her on the spot and she spent seven days in captivity.
The suspect then allegedly removed the sim card from her mobile phone and then contacted her family demanding N3 million ransom for her release.
He threatened to sell the girl, whose name is not mentioned because she is minor, to Fulani herders if they failed to pay the ransom.
Four days after, on March 29, the girl’s mother rallied about N550,000. On Thursday, 1 April, the victim was rescued at a residential address in Egba on Benin Auchi road after investigators arrested the suspect.
Speaking to Standard Gazette, the girl narrated her ordeal during the seven days of captivity.
“I met him on Facebook last month. He asked me to visit him, and I never knew he had the plan to kidnap me. I have never had sex before. He raped me twice a day for seven days. I am still in pain now.”
On his part, the suspect said he kidnapped the girl because he needed money to sort out some issues.
“I have been chatting with her on Facebook since February 2021, and we agreed to meet. I called the mother for ransom because I need money to sort out some issues. I spent two years in Ghana and returned to Nigeria recently.”
Spokesperson of the State Police Command, Contacted, SP Bello Kontongs, who confirmed the arrest, said, the suspect will be charged to court for kidnapping.
“Our young girls must be very watchful of people they meet on Facebook.” he added.
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