Nigerian Police.
In Bukuru community, within the Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State, a 17-year-old SS3 student named Elisha Anthony was apprehended by the Plateau State Police Command. He was arrested for the abduction and murder of a 5-year-old boy, during which he collected a ransom of N400,000 from the child’s parents.
This information was shared by the State Commissioner of Police, CP Julius Alawari, during a press briefing held on Thursday, October 26, 2023, at the command headquarters in Jos.
The Commissioner of Police (CP) reported that the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the command received a distress call earlier this month regarding the disappearance of a 5-year-old boy named Dawon Pam. Despite extensive searches throughout the night, the child could not be located.
39 other suspects paraded for various offences at the police command’s headquarters in Jos.
He went on to explain that the day following the incident, a pair of the victim’s shoes was discovered near a handwritten note.
The note conveyed a demand for Five Million Naira (N5,000,000.00) for the child’s safe return. The note also instructed the child’s parent not to make a phone call but to send a text message to the provided phone number.
Upon receiving the report, a police team, under the leadership of SP Okala Ugbede, promptly took action. On Monday, they successfully tracked down the kidnappers and apprehended one of the culprits, a 17-year-old individual named Elijah Anthony, residing at the same location.
During the interrogation, Elijah Anthony admitted to and confessed his involvement in a conspiracy with an individual known as AKA Malic, whose address was not fixed. They had jointly abducted the victim from his father’s premises and relocated him to an unfinished building in the community.
There, they restrained him by binding his mouth with an elastic cloth to prevent him from making any noise.
Elijah Anthony further confessed that, after securing a ransom of Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N400,000.00) from the victim’s parents, his accomplice, Malic (who is currently evading capture), strangled the victim while Elijah held the victim’s hands and legs. Following this, they disposed of the body by depositing it in a marshy area near the unfinished building.
The Commissioner mentioned that following the suspect’s admission, a group of officers proceeded to the location, where the body was retrieved. Subsequently, it was transported to the Plateau State Hospital for confirmation and appropriate procedures, and later returned to the parents for burial arrangements.
He also noted that the investigation is currently in progress, aimed at apprehending the suspect who is on the run and any potential associates involved in the crime.
The individual named Anthony, who spoke to the press, attributed the heinous act to the hardships he faced.
When answering inquiries from reporters, Anthony, who admitted to the murder of his five-year-old neighbor, known as Dawom Pam, stated that, “They sent his (victim’s) elder brother to buy something and the little boy was behind him. So, I and my friend carried the boy and hid him somewhere in an uncompleted building.
“Later, the parents of the boy came looking for him and I also pretended and joined them in the search for their missing child but I did not take them to where the boy was hidden.
“Later we demanded N5 million, but we were able to get N400,000. But five days later, the boy was killed. I was the one that killed him because I fear he might tell his parents that I was the one that kidnapped him if we had released him”.