Five persons are currently in police custody in Damongo for attempting to kidnap a 14-year-old boy at Singa, a community near Daboya.
According to the Northern Regional Police Command, all five suspects denied the offence but two of the suspects admitted going to the village on two motorbikes at about 6 pm on Sunday.
They said they were there to look for a white guinea fowl for their group rituals at Tali No.1 near Daboya.
[contextly_sidebar id=”o22yR89W3wbjsuGrdn9r9GoGJMTyc3Pu”]They claimed that they asked the 14-year-old boy to direct them to a Fulani settlement in the area where they could get guinea fowls to buy.
The victim also stated that the suspects carried him on a motorbike to show them the settlement but failed to stop upon reaching the destination.
He told police that he jumped off the speeding motorbike and raised an alarm but the suspects were not seen until about 10 pm later that night when they were arrested and taken to the Chief’s house.
On Monday, the Upper East Regional Police Command arraigned two boys for faking their kidnapping.
One of the two suspects was declared missing after he left the house without the consent of his parents while the other, demanded GHC200 cedis from his parents as a ransom for his purported kidnappers.
Speaking to Citi News, the Upper East Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ampofo Duku described the conduct of the suspects as unlawful.
He said the boys will be arraigned to serve as a deterrent to others.
“The boy, 15 years feigned kidnap and used an old SIM card to call his own mother that he had been kidnapped and a ransom of 200 cedis was being demanded by the kidnappers. They reported and the Police were able to entice the boy. Later on, the boy was arrested. And he said he went to a betting centre where he incurred debt and in order to get money from the parents he feigned kidnapping.”
This comes in the wake of recent kidnappings in the country which has sparked alarm over crime rates.
Some three girls were kidnapped in the Western Region, Takoradi in 2018.