A Ugandan woman was held hostage for two days by a man she agreed to meet for coffee after chatting on Facebook.
Joan Alupo, a recent university graduate and daughter of a local politician, was kidnapped by her supposed date, a new Facebook friend. She left her family home in Muyenga, a suburb of capital Kampala, for the date last Wednesday, reported Daily Monitor.
Several hours later, her parents received a call; her captor said Alupo, 26, would be harmed unless her family paid 400 million shillings (around $155,000). That demand was upped to 1 billion shillings (around $400,000) on Thursday.
Police checked Alupo’s laptop and discovered her Facebook chat with the kidnapper. Through the messages, they were able to make contact with the kidnapper’s friends, and eventually the kidnapper himself.
The kidnapper let Alupo go Friday morning, after she spent two days in captivity blindfolded in a car, and went on the run. Police arrested three men believed to have been working with the kidnapper.
Illustration by Fernando Alfonso III
