Ogun State Police Command has arrested eight foreign nationals over an alleged fake kidnapping scheme and ransom fraud operation uncovered in Adiyan town, Agbado area of the state, according to a statement by the command and reported by TheCable on Monday.

The police said the suspects are members of a transnational criminal network that staged abductions to extort money from victims’ families abroad. Five of those arrested are from Côte d’Ivoire, while others include nationals from Burkina Faso, Mauritania and the Republic of Benin, alongside a Nigerian suspect.

According to the police, the case began after intelligence linked a reported kidnapping complaint to suspicious ransom demands. Investigators found that a 23-year-old Mauritanian national allegedly posed as a kidnapped victim while communicating ransom demands through accomplices.

Authorities said another suspect escalated threats to pressure the victim’s family into paying. A coordinated operation later led detectives to the gang’s hideout, where all eight suspects were arrested.

Preliminary findings indicate the scheme involved deliberate staging of abductions, with suspects allegedly working together to simulate captivity and demand ransom payments. Police added that some suspects have confessed, while investigations continue to determine wider links to cross-border criminal activity.

The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Bode Ojajuni, described the operation as intelligence-led and said it exposed the growing sophistication of transnational fraud networks operating through fake abduction schemes.

The suspects have been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.