It is turning out that the claims by a 28-yer-old woman in Takoradi that she was pregnant and kidnapped are false, Western Regional Minister Kwabena Okyere Darko Mensah has said.

Speaking on Kessben TV’s morning show, Mr Darko Mensah said: “I received a call from NIB yesterday that she had been found and was at the Axim hospital”.

“According to the police, they suspect that the story was fake per their preliminary investigations”, he said.

He noted that the “medical doctor who attended to her even suspects that she may not have been pregnant, as has been reported.”

“They are even surprised at how this story has gone so far”, the minister noted.

He said “this is the immediate information I have”.

“Nevertheless, the police are still with her and are conducting further investigations,” he added.

Mrs Josephine Simons went missing on Thursday, 16 September 2021.

She was later found on Tuesday, 21 September around Axim and taken to the Axim Government Hospital for treatment.

She said in writing that she was kidnapped and delivered on the day she went missing.

Mrs Simons, according to her husband, Michael Simons, had been living with her mother since she was expecting a child.

As part of her daily physicals, she went on a routine morning walk from the Amanoo road to the Paa Grant Roundabout area but did not return home on that fateful day.

After her mother reported the case to the husband, a search team was formed and combed the major health facilities in the area suspecting she may have gone into labour and was rushed to one of the health posts but to no avail.

In the course of the day, the husband told local media that some strangers called his mother-in-law demanding a ransom so they release the heavily pregnant wife.

Takoradi became infamous for the kidnapping and killing of some four young girls a couple of years ago.

Their remains were later found in a septic tank.