Police arrest 4 PRESEC Legon students, 2 adults for staging kidnap, demanding GH₵320K ransom

According to a police statement issued on Friday, April 5, 2024, preliminary investigations established that the kidnapping was a plot by the group to enable one of the students to extort money from his parents to fund his travel abroad.

“The Ghana Police Service, through an intelligence-led operation and investigation, has arrested six (6) persons including four (4) juveniles who are all students of Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC), Legon, Accra, for staging a kidnapping incident. The two (2) adults among the six (6) are Isaac Kissi Adjei, alias Kofi Black, and Courage Teiko, alias Timmy.

“Preliminary investigations revealed that one of the juveniles, in an attempt to extort money from his parents to enable him to travel abroad, conspired with the others to stage the kidnapping incident. In the process, they demanded an amount of Three Hundred and Forty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH₵340,000.00) as ransom from the alleged victim’s parents,” the police statement said.

According to the police, the juveniles, together with their adult accomplices, succeeded in collecting an amount of GH₵20,000 from the total amount of ransom demanded before their arrest.

“The Investigation further disclosed that the juveniles, together with the two others, succeeded in collecting an amount of Twenty Thousand Ghana Cedis (GH¢20,000.00) of the total ransom demanded.

“In line with best practice, the identities of the juveniles have been withheld and their parents and guardians have been duly informed, as Police investigations into the incident continue,” the statement added.

Earlier this week, it was reported that a 17-year-old student of Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC), Legon, had been kidnapped and held for ransom by unknown assailants.

According to the report, the student was kidnapped on March 28, 2024, while on his way from campus to home during the Easter school break.

The alleged kidnappers were said to have initially demanded a staggering 34-million-naira (approximately GH₵340,000) ransom from his family and threatened to sell the body parts of the kidnapped students should the family refuse to send the money.

With threats of harvesting their son’s organs if they failed to comply, and picture evidence of the student having been harmed by his captors, the desperate family negotiated the ransom down to GH₵20,000.

The family reportedly sent the money via mobile money, but the kidnappers refused to release the boy unless an extra GH₵300,000 cedis was paid in full.