• She made calls saying she had been kidnapped by men who were demanding ransom of Sh500,000 ($US 5,000) for her release.
• The woman was traced to an apartment in Parklands where she paid Sh5,000 a night
Image: THE STAR
A Chinese woman has been arrested after she faked her kidnapping and demanded Sh500,000 from her boyfriend.
Yuan Thi Hua, 30, was flushed out of an apartment in Parklands, where she had been hiding for four days while faking her kidnap.
She had moved from Kilimani area where she stayed with her boyfriend and later made calls to him saying she had been kidnapped by men who were demanding a ransom of Sh500,000 ($US 5,000) for her release.
Police say she even tied her legs and hands and covered her mouth, took photos of the drama and sent the same to the boyfriend.
She used an unknown man to make calls to her boyfriend, demanding the money as soon as possible or else she would be harmed or killed.
The boyfriend made a report at the Kilimani police station of the said kidnap, prompting a probe.
Kilimani police boss Muturi Mbogo said the woman was traced to an apartment in Parklands where she paid Sh5,000 a night as she sought to get the said ransom from her boyfriend.
She was arrested and taken into custody on Sunday ahead of her arraignment.
“It is criminal to lie at large, and she will be prosecuted in court. We are trying to establish if there were other players in the incident,” he said.
Police say cases of abduction have been on the decline in the past years due to various factors, including technology.
Abduction cases were 70 in 2020. In 2019, they were 71, 52 in 2018, 138 in 2017 and 53 in 2016.
According to the National Crime Research Centre, the most common types of kidnappings are those committed by strangers, kidnapping committed by an acquaintance, being kidnapped and forced to withdraw money from an ATM, inside kidnapping, kidnapping by a family member and virtual kidnapping.
The centre says there are socio-cultural, including religious and moral, economic and political motives for kidnapping.
“Revenge is the major socio-cultural motive for kidnappings, ransom payment is the major economic motive while overcoming and/or reducing political rivalry is the major political motive for kidnapping," it said.
The most prominent factors behind crime include unemployment, poverty, gangs and militia, backward cultural practices, instability and conflicts, inefficiency and/or corruption among some members of the security system, political competition and rivalry.
Other factors include marginalisation of some areas, proliferation of illegal small arms and light weapons and competition for control of resources.
“The crime of kidnapping exposes victims to serious negative treatments and conditions including physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological abuse, confinement and isolation, poor feeding, being drugged and murder," the centre says.
The centre wants the National Intelligence Service and National Police Service to improve their intelligence gathering and sharing, detection and investigative capacities involving kidnapping.
Edited by A.N