Police Arrest Housewife, Accomplice for Staging Own Kidnapping, Extorting ₦2.5m from S-Africa-Based Husband
“Lagos Police arrest a housewife and accomplice for staging her own kidnapping and extorting ₦2.5m from her S- Africa-based husband.”
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 26-year-old housewife, Mrs. Misturah Bada, and her alleged accomplice, Adedamola Daniel, for orchestrating a staged kidnapping that led to the extortion of ₦2.5 million from her husband, a Nigerian resident in South Africa.
In a press statement e-signed and released to the National Association of Online Security News Publishers (NAOSNP), the Command’s spokesperson, SP Abimbola Adebisi, disclosed that operatives of the Command Special Squad uncovered the elaborate scheme following a distress call.
According to the statement, “Operatives of the Command Special Squad have arrested a housewife, Mrs. Misturah Bada (female), aged 26, alongside her cohort, Adedamola Daniel (male), aged 30, for conspiracy, false kidnapping and extortion.”
The police revealed that on 24 November 2025, at about 10:00 p.m., the Command received an emergency call from Mrs. Bada’s husband, reporting that his wife had allegedly been kidnapped by armed men who demanded a ransom of ₦10 million, later reduced to ₦3 million.
“A total sum of ₦2.5 million was eventually paid by the husband, an innocent Nigerian resident in South Africa. However, despite the payment, the supposed kidnappers failed to release the victim,” the statement added.
Following the complaint, the Command said its human and technical intelligence assets were immediately deployed to track the alleged kidnappers. Mrs. Bada was later located, released and reunited with her family.
During interrogation, she initially claimed that “six armed men, driving a silver Toyota Venza,” kidnapped her, took her to an undisclosed location, and dispossessed her of her iPhone 12 Pro Max. She further alleged that the ransom was first paid into her bank account before being handed over to the kidnappers.
However, police investigations uncovered glaring inconsistencies in her account.
On 3 December 2025, operatives arrested Adedamola Daniel in the Ede area of Osun State. A SIM card used to register the WhatsApp account through which ransom negotiations were conducted was recovered from him.
“During interrogation, Daniel confessed that Mrs. Bada requested the use of his SIM card to open the WhatsApp account used for the ransom negotiations. He admitted providing the One-Time Password (OTP) sent to his line, which enabled her to operate the account,” the police stated.
Confronted with the confession, Mrs. Bada admitted to faking her own kidnapping in order to extort money from her husband abroad.
Further investigation also led to the recovery of the iPhone 12 Pro Max earlier reported stolen. The phone was recovered from Yusuf Sodiq, aged 34, who confessed to purchasing it from Mrs. Bada for ₦380,000.
“He admitted that he was warned not to insert any SIM card into the phone at the time of purchase,” the statement noted.
The Command confirmed that investigations are ongoing and that Mrs. Misturah Bada and her accomplices, Adedamola Daniel and Yusuf Sodiq, will be charged to court upon conclusion of the investigation.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Olohundare Jimoh, reiterated the Command’s commitment to protecting lives and property, while warning members of the public against false reporting, criminal deception, and actions capable of diverting critical security resources.
Members of the public were urged to remain vigilant and promptly report suspicious activities through the Command’s emergency lines:
0706 101 9374, 0806 515 4338, 0806 329 9264, 0803 934 4870.
