A Kenyan man wanted a break from work so badly that he convinced a friend to help him fake his own kidnapping, and ended up in court.
The scheme unraveled when police in Nairobi tracked down the 30-year-old man, who had vanished for days while his employer and family panicked. Officers found him hiding at a friend's house, unharmed, with no kidnapper in sight.
A Disappearance That Didn't Add Up
On April 14, the man left his workplace in Nairobi and simply stopped showing up. His employer reported him missing after he failed to return for several days. Police launched a search, treating the case as a potential abduction.
Investigators traced his phone signal and discovered he was staying with a friend in a residential area of the city. When they arrived, they found the man relaxed and comfortable, not tied up, not held against his will. He admitted he had staged the entire disappearance because he did not want to go to work.
The Cost of a Fake Kidnapping
The man appeared before a magistrate in Nairobi on April 29. He pleaded guilty to charges of giving false information to a public officer. The court ordered him to pay a fine of 50,000 Kenyan shillings, roughly $385, or serve six months in jail.
His friend, who helped him carry out the hoax, was also arrested and charged separately. Local residents and employers in Nairobi expressed frustration over the case, saying such stunts waste police time and undermine real kidnapping reports.
For a man who just wanted a day off, the price turned out to be far higher than any paycheck he would have earned.
