Police in Nairobi are holding a 23-year-old medical student accused of staging his own kidnapping to defraud his parents.
Edwin Kamau, a student at Makindu Medical Training College, was arrested after the distraught caregivers reported the alleged kidnapping incident at Kayole Police station.
According to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Kamau went missing on Sunday, July 3, 2022.
He blocked his father and shortly after contacted his mother claiming to have been kidnapped. He asked her to send Ksh70,000 to the supposed kidnappers to secure his release.
“He told her that his kidnappers wanted a ransom of Ksh70,000, to set him free before he hanged up on her,” DCI said in a statement on Thursday night.
“His distraught parents reported the matter to police officers who immediately launched a manhunt for the kidnappers.”
Determined to make a kill from his parents, the calls persisted with the student claiming that the ‘kidnappers’ were on the verge of eliminating him.
“Determined to secure the life of their son, they sent Ksh10,000 yesterday via mobile money and an additional Ksh40,000 today.”
Immediately after Kamau received the initial Ksh10,000, he reportedly went parting at a club in Thika with a woman.
Little did he know, that he was endangering his life as the woman would later be linked to a notorious drink-spiking gang in the town.
The young man, who was looking forward to a night of fun with the beauty, lost all the money after the woman laced his drink with a stupefying drug.
“He went to a club in Thika to irrigate his throat and make merry in the company of a babe he had met. And as fate would have it, the woman turned out to be a pishori admin who laced his drink with an unknown substance and stole the cash,” DCI added.
After regaining his consciousness on Thursday, the suspect again contacted his parents to send more money.
“He called again and his parents sent a further Ksh40,000 which he withdrew and secured in his shoes,” DCI added.
Detectives hot on his trail arrested him moments later. He told the officers that he was forced to fake his own kidnapping after squandering his school fees and was wondering how he would raise the money in order to sit for his end-of-semester examinations.
Two students stage kidnapping
He claimed that two other students had used the same trick to obtain money from their parents.
“He further disclosed that he had been ‘kidnapped’ alongside two other students whose parents had paid their ransoms,” DCI added.
Detectives managed to recover a total of Ksh38,600 from the student. He is currently being held at Kayole Police station pending arraignment in court.
MEDICAL STUDENT KIDNAPS SELF TO OBTAIN MONEY FROM PARENTS
— DCI KENYA (@DCI_Kenya) July 7, 2022
A 23-year-old medical student at Makindu Medical Training College, is in custody at Kayole police station, after he staged his own kidnapping to milk money from his parents. pic.twitter.com/niUra3BhcQ
