WARRI, DELTA, NIGERIA – SEPTEMBER, 2025 Residents of the Agbarho district allegedly caught a woman attempting to kidnap a child. Before the police arrived at the scene, a crowd gathered around the woman and mercilessly burned her alive using a method called necklacing. They placed tires around her neck and then set them on fire.
Child kidnappings in Nigeria have become an increasing criminal threat in recent years. Abductions occur in both large cities and rural areas, and children fall victim to criminal gangs, extremist groups, or human traffickers. However, kidnappings for ransom, forced labor, or ritual purposes are also common.
Public outrage over crime, combined with a complete lack of trust in state authorities, often ends tragically like this, when people take justice into their own hands. Perpetrators of crimes are thus, without trial or any chance of defense, left at the mercy of a bloodthirsty mob. Paradoxically, in kidnapping cases, perpetrators are often themselves victims of criminal gangs who force them to commit such acts.
