A court in Takoradi has remanded two persons, including a journalist, for their alleged involvement in a fake kidnapping story in the Western Region.

The two are Stephen Kumi, boyfriend of the woman alleged to have been kidnapped, and Nhyiraba Paa Kwesi Simpson, a journalist with Connect 97.1 FM.

They are expected to reappear in court on November 16, 2021.

The Police is charging them with the publication of false news with the intent of causing fear and alarm to the public contrary to the Public Order Act, and false publication of news through an electronic device contrary to the Electronic Communications Act, 775 of 2008.

The two have pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Last month, news went viral of the alleged abduction of one Stephanie Kumiwaa, 26 at Mpohor in the Western Region.

But the police, in a statement signed by the Head of Public Affairs at the Western Regional Police Command, DSP Olivia Adiku said that checks at "Mpohor Police District Command indicated that no such case had been reported there."

Suspect, Stephen Kumi informed the Police during interrogation that he met the victim on Facebook and they started dating.

On October 17, 2021, Stephanie called to inform Stephen that she was visiting him but did not show up.

But on October 19, Stephen received a call from a friend of Stephanie's that someone called on her (Stephanie's) phone, claiming that she had been kidnapped.

The suspected abductors demanded a ransom of GHC2,000.00.

The Police said Stephen Kumi was escorted to Mpohor but all efforts to locate the residence, family relations of Stephanie and Sandra for confirmation of the alleged incident proved futile.

"The Western Regional Police Command wants to use this opportunity to remind the media that they should crosscheck all information from the Command for confirmation before publications are done. The Police will continue to collaborate with them to combat crime in the Region," part of a statement from the Police reads.

This will be about the third fake kidnapping case reported in the Western Region since September this year.

29-year-old Joana Krah was recently handed a six-year imprisonment sentence after she confessed to faking her kidnapping to extort GHC5,000 from her Godfather.

Another woman, Josephine Mensah, is in court for faking a pregnancy and subsequent kidnapping.

She has pleaded not guilty to the charges of deceiving a public officer and publication of false news with the intent to cause fear and panic.

Meanwhile, Police in the Western Region have expressed worry over the increase in false kidnapping cases in the area as people conspire to create "self-kidnapping" incidents to make money out of ransoms.