Operatives of the Edo State Police Command have arrested a man, Chigozie Anthony, for allegedly luring a girl he met on TikTok to his residence and demanding N. 1m ransom from her parents.
Chigozie was among 15 suspected criminals paraded before journalists by the Command spokesperson, ASP Eno Ikoedem, during the maiden press briefing of the Commissioner of Police, CP Patrick Daaor, in Benin City, on Tuesday, August 18, 2026.
ASP Ikoedem said the girl was held at Anthony’s residence while her parents were contacted and made to pay the N500,000 ransom before the suspect was arrested.
On his part, Anthony denied kidnapping the girl, claiming that she was his girlfriend and that they both planned the act.
He told journalists that the girl had asked him to hide her so that her family would pay money, as she needed the money for her nursing-related plans.
“It’s a plan between me and my girlfriend. We have been chatting for over more than a month now. So she came to my place, and told me that she wants to do business. She said after the work that she’s learning now, which is nursing, she will need N800,000 and something thousand.
“She will finish her nursing training next month. She then said that I should hide her so her family would pay money. That was how I hid her and demanded for N500,000 which the parents paid.” Anthony said.
However, neither the girl nor her parents were available for comment during the press briefing.
Also paraded were 26-year-old Donatus Martins and his accomplice for allegedly vandalising cables and equipment belonging to the Africa Independent Television, AIT, Benin office.
The police said that the suspects had vandalised equipment worth over N4m
00m from the premises since the station stopped operations.
Martins, however, confessed that he and his accomplice carried out three operations before they were arrested.
“The first one, we stole three DVDs and three copper wires and sold them for N75,000. We paid the motorcyclist N5,000. The second operation fetched N90,000, but the buyer gave us N70,000, leaving N20,000. It was during the third operation that we were caught,” he said.
The suspect Martins, also identified himself as a bricklayer, who resorts to vandalism whenever construction jobs were unavailable.
Meanwhile, Ajayi Godwin was paraded for unlawful possession of firearms in Auchi, while Akinla Lawrence and his accomplice were arrested for alleged pipeline vandalism in the Okada axis of Ovia North-East Local Government Area of the state.
