Police have arrested a 23-year-old student for staging his own kidnapping, just to nourish his pockets with his parents’ money.

The young man named Edwin Kamau ‘disappeared’ on Sunday and called his mother after blocking his father, claiming he had been kidnapped.

Edwin or ‘Edu’ as his peers would refer to him told his unsuspecting mother that his kidnappers wanted a Sh70,000 ransom before they could let him go then immediately hung up the phone.

Edwin’s distraught parents reported the incident to the police and launched a spirited manhunt for the alleged kidnappers.

Meanwhile, Edwin’s calls to his parents became more persisted accompanied by threats that the kidnappers were intent on dispatching him to the next world within a few moments if his parents did not ‘behave’.

Read More

  1. Minor rescued in Nairobi after hours of agony in hands of heartless abductors
  2. Notorious city gang leader arrested, valuables worth thousands recovered
  3. Second suspect in David Mayaka's brutal murder killed in a fierce gun battle


Parental instincts and love could not allow Edwin’s parents to let their son lose his life in that manner and determined to secure his release, they sent Sh10,000 on Wednesday to the ‘kidnappers’ and an additional Sh40,0000 on Thursday.

Once Edwin (the kidnapper) received the first instalment of Sh10,000 on Wednesday, he went to a club in Thika to irrigate his throat with some frothy stuff in appreciation of his latest achievement and ‘hard work’.

Edwin found himself a babe with whom he wanted to enjoy his spoils, but as fate would have it, the woman turned out to be a pishori merchant who laced his drink and made away with all his cash.

When the medical student at M regained his consciousness on Thursday, he certainly remembered he had some unfinished business with his parents and called them.

They immediately sent him Sh40,000, which he withdrew immediately and stuffed in his shoes for ‘safe keeping'.

Little did he know that at that time detectives had zeroed in on him. They arrested him and took him for questioning at Kayole Police Station.

When asked why he had to concoct his kidnapping story, Edwin revealed he had squandered money meant for his last semester’s school fees and wondered how he would raise the funds which were necessary before sitting for his exams.

Edwin revealed he was not ‘kidnapped’ alone but alongside two other students whose parents had paid for their ransoms.

The detectives recovered Sh38,6000 from Edwin and held him in custody at the station, waiting to be arraigned in court.