Syrian youth stages his kidnapping and demands 30m Syrian pounds’ ransom from father

Gulf Today Report

In a strange incident, a young man carried out a fake kidnapping of himself and demanded that his father pay a ransom for his release by the party that kidnapped him.

The Syrian Ministry of Interior followed up on the fake kidnapping case, and published a clarification statement on the facts of the incident.

In its statement, the Syrian Ministry of Interior said, "A citizen reported to the Criminal Security Branch in Lattakia that his son Mahmoud, born in 2000, had been kidnapped by unknown people, and messages were received from an unknown number claiming to be the kidnappers asking for a ransom of thirty million Syrian pounds in exchange for his release."

The statement continued, "As a result of follow-up and the preparation of a ambush in coordination with the family of the son, the Criminal Security Branch in Latakia was able to lure the kidnapper and arrest him, which turned out that son was present to receive the ransom amount and staged everything."

The authorities said, “He confessed that he had fabricated the fictitious kidnapping incident with the intention of obtaining the ransom amount.”

The statement continued by mentioning the details, as he said: “The reason for fabricating the incident is due to family disputes with his father, and that before the incident he borrowed a motorcycle from his neighbour and sold it to a bike repair shop in exchange for a mobile device and a small amount of money, and then sold the mobile device to a telecom store to cover the hotel reservation expenses.”