Delta State Police Command has arrested 27-year-old Merit Alice after she allegedly staged her own kidnapping to cover up misappropriation of ₦3.6 million entrusted to her by her brother.
According to the Police Public Relations Officer SP Bright Edafe, in a statement on Monday, he said that, Alice admitted she had received the money to purchase a tricycle for her brother. Instead, she reportedly spent it on her bridal shower and hotel accommodation for friends during her wedding in March 2025.
As Alice’s brother pressed her for repayment, she allegedly conspired with two accomplices, with one identified as Peter, a former security personnel at her workplace to fake her abduction. On July 20, she told her husband she had been kidnapped, leading to a ₦3 million ransom being paid.
“My husband and my brothers raised the ₦3 million ransom… I took ₦2.5 million and gave my accomplices ₦500,000,” Alice confessed to police, attributing her actions to mounting pressure.
“My husband and my brothers raised the N3 million ransom that we demanded. After which I went to a POS woman’s shop to cash out the money. I took N2.5 million and gave my accomplices N500,000,” she continued.
She regretted her action while attributing it to pressure that was coming to repay the money her brother gave her.
