Police details how 2 Ghanaian women were lured through marriage proposals to Nigeria and later kidnapped

On May 1, 2025 police announced that in collaboration with the National Signals Bureau (NSB) and the Nigeria Police Force two female victims were successfully rescued from kidnappers in Nigeria.

The chilling footage which went viral on social media captured the victims in distress and sparked widespread public outrage and concern.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, May 6, 2025 Director General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), DCOP Lydia Yaako Donkor gave a detailed account of how the victims, both Ghanaian women were lured by romance scammers to Nigeria and later kidnapped.

The suspects; Peter Okoye, 31, Paulinus Chidokwe, 35, and Chinoso Okafor, 35  and Christian Emeka were arrested in Port Harcourt, Onitsha in Nigeria.

She revealed that the suspects, Peter Okoye and Christian Emeka both Nigerians indicated to police that they were in Ghana in the 2019 to work with QNET.

However, they left Ghana to Nigeria in 2020 but Christian Emeka returned to Ghana in June 2024.

“Peter Okoye, Christian Emeka and Basil Okonkwo, all Nigerians were into romance scam in Nigeria and Ghana,” she shared.

According to police investigations, the suspects operate through their Facebook pages and other social media handles, acting as white men and proposed marriage to the unsuspecting victims who accepted the proposals and left Ghana to Nigeria.

“These suspects met the two victims, Anastasia Baidoo Arthur and Evelyn Konadu through their Facebook accounts. The suspects posed as white men who wanted to marry the victims. The two unsuspecting victims became convinced and accepted the marriage proposals.

“The suspects then lured them to Nigeria and the victims travel separately but ended up at the same location on the same day on April 22, 2025,” DCOP Donkor noted.

On reaching the location in Port Harcourt, Onitsha, Nigeria, Peter Okoye and the two accomplices kidnapped the victims.

The three suspects tied the victims up, stripped them naked and assaulted them with cutlasses and threaten to kill them with a knife, wrapped them in bedsheet with their heads covered in a black polythene and threatened to hang them with nylon rope.

All these violent acts perpetrated by the victims were recorded on video, disseminated them on social media and also copies were sent to the victims’ families with a demand for ransom of GH?500,000 from each of the victims’ families.

According to the police, a total of GH?18,000 had been paid to various mobile money numbers before the suspects were arrested.

The police cautioned the public against online romance scams and urged Ghanaians to report any suspicious scam to the police.

Ghana Police Service says it is collaborating closely with Nigerian authorities to expedite the return of two victims and suspects involved in the recent kidnapping case back to Ghana.

“As of today, both suspects and victims are with the Nigerian authorities, and efforts are being made to transport the victims to Ghana,” she told the media.

DCOP Lydia Donkor noted that the suspects will also be extradited to Ghana to assist investigations.

The post Police details how 2 Ghanaian women were lured through marriage proposals to Nigeria and later kidnapped first appeared on 3News.

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