Police in Imenti North, Meru County, have arrested three 17-year-olds who allegedly orchestrated a sham kidnapping in Kainginyo area before demanding KSh6 million ransom from the “victims” family.

In a classic case of misguided get-rich-quick mentality, the three, two males and a female, are said to have faked the kidnapping of the female, then called her parents with the demands lest their daughter disappeared for good.

On receiving information of a missing child on September 24, officers at Meru Police Station geared up for a manhunt within the locality, reassuring the distraught family whose negotiations with the kidnappers and frantic search for their kin had resulted in futility.

Joining in the investigation, Imenti North detectives uncovered a sinister plot. The supposed victim, Jane (not her real name), had conspired with the two male accomplices to stage her own kidnapping, aiming to extort the hefty sum from her own family.

Following a forensic trail, Jane and her accomplices were smoked out of their hideout in Kainginyo, where a discovery of 20 rolls of Marijuana was also made.

“As the family thanks the good heavens for the safety of their kin, she and her partners in crime are cooling heels at a Igoji Police Station pending arraignment for conspiracy to defraud and being in possession of narcotics,” the DCI reports.