A 17-year-old student, identified as Elijah Anthony, has been apprehended by the Plateau State Police Command for allegedly kidnapping and subsequently killing his neighbour’s five-year-old child after collecting a ransom of N400,000 from the victim’s parents.
Elijah Anthony, a Senior Secondary student at Manret High School in Angul D community, Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, was among 39 suspects paraded by the police command for various offences at its headquarters in Jos on Thursday.
News About Nigeria reports that during an interview with the media, Anthony confessed to the crime, saying “They sent the victim’s elder brother to buy something, and the little boy was following him.
“So, my friend and I took the boy and concealed him in an unfinished building. Later, the boy’s parents came searching for him, and I also pretended to help in the search for their missing child but didn’t lead them to where the boy was hidden.
“We later demanded N5 million in ransom, but we managed to get N400,000. However, five days later, the boy was killed. I was the one who killed him because I was afraid he might tell his parents that I was the kidnapper if we had released him.”
The suspect expressed remorse for his actions and attributed his behaviour to the hardship in the country.
He added, “I was in my house when the police came and arrested me. It is the hardship that drove me into kidnapping and killing. I was supposed to write WAEC this year, but I didn’t. Please forgive me.”
The State Commissioner of Police, Okoro Julius Alawari, who paraded Anthony and the other 39 suspects, disclosed that the body of the five-year-old child had been recovered from a swampy area near the unfinished building where he had been abandoned by the suspects.
The child’s remains were subsequently returned to his parents for burial. The police commissioner stated that all 39 suspects would be prosecuted once investigations were completed.
