The family of an Angus man missing abroad for months have been the subject of a cruel terrorist ransom demand hoax.
In a message received from a man purporting to be a senior figure in the Boko Haram militant group, relatives of 31-year-old chef Jon Edwards, who disappeared in Portugal in September, were warned he would be executed or sold unless a payment of $6,000 was made.
The ransom demand was sent earlier this month to a Portugese radio station from the Facebook account of a man claiming to be linked to the Islamist group responsible for the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls earlier this year.
Posing with a gun over his shoulders, his face covered by a scarf and with bullets draped around his neck, Chidinma Chigbu described himself as working for Boko Haram Kidnapping.
Chigbu claimed he was paid to kidnap the Arbroath man and said Jon would be released within 48 hours of the sum being transferred into a Western Union account, otherwise “we will kill him or sale him any moment.”
The out-of-the-blue message was taken seriously by authorities in Britain and Europe but Jon’s sister Kenna and mother Lesley now believe the demand was a cruel hoax.
Jon disappeared from his apartment in Lagos, Portugal, on September 15 shortly after he had started working as a chef in the Algarve.
In early December, the Facebook ransom demand was sent to Portugese station Epix Radio.
The station immediately informed Jon’s mother Lesley, who visited Arbroath police station with the information, sparking an Interpol-led inquiry.
Jon’s family did not respond to the message but Kenna, 32, described the shocking turn of events as “extremely worrying”.
“When I heard that a Nigerian claimed to have Jon, I thought it would be someone reading a report about a British man missing in Lagos and assuming it was the Nigerian capital and thinking they could make some money from this, not realising it was Lagos in Portugal,” she said.
“But then I read the message and it did say he was living in Portugal.
“The man’s Facebook profile had 900 friends, it didn’t look like it had just been set up for a scam.
Facebook do not comment on individual cases, but the profile page has now been removed.
On it, Chidinma Chigbu stated that he lives in Abuja, Nigeria and was formerly part of Hamas militants.
The family were initially suspicious about the relatively small amount of money being sought but they remained extremely concerned about the prospect of it being genuine.
His mother, Lesley said: “It was a nightmare. It’s bad enough not knowing what happened to Jon without having to go through this.”