The Ghana Police Service has revealed that the two female victims involved in a recent kidnapping case were lured through an online romance scam and later abducted in Nigeria.
The Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), DCOP Lydia Yaako Donkor, disclosed this information while addressing the media at the Police Headquarters in Accra on May 6, 2025.
According to DCOP Yaako Donkor, the victims, identified as Badoo Atta and Serwaa Konadu, were targeted by suspects posing as white men on Facebook.
The perpetrators convinced the unsuspecting women to accept marriage proposals, ultimately luring them to Nigeria.
“The suspects met the two victims through their Facebook accounts, posed as white men who wanted to marry them, and convinced them to accept the marriage proposal,” DCOP Donkor stated.
The victims travelled separately but arrived at the same location in Nigeria on April 22, 2025, where they were kidnapped by Peter Okoye and his two accomplices.
The abductors subjected the women to severe physical abuse, stripping them naked, tying them up, and assaulting them with cutlasses.
They also threatened to kill them, covered their heads with black polythene, and recorded the violent acts on video.
The kidnappers sent the footage to the victims’ families, demanding a ransom of GH₵500,000 from each family.
Subsequently, a total of GHS18,000 was paid to various phone numbers linked to the suspects.
DCOP Donkor confirmed that both the victims and suspects are currently in the custody of Nigerian authorities.
She added that efforts are underway to transport the victims back to Ghana and extradite the suspects to assist in investigations.
“At the moment, information received from our counterparts in Nigeria indicates that both victims are fine. They have received routine medical checks,” she added.
It will be recalled that in the first week of May 2025, the Ghana Police Service, in partnership with the National Signals Bureau (NSB) and the Nigeria Police Force, rescued the two female victims who were abducted and subsequently featured in a viral video.
The video, which showed the kidnappers brutally assaulting the victims with a cutlass, sparked public concern, which drew the attention of law enforcement agencies.
In a joint operation, eight suspects were arrested in connection with the kidnapping, with arrests made in both Ghana and Nigeria.