When a group of youngsters in Vijayawada planned a birthday prank for their friend, also hoping that the video of the prank would go viral, little did they know that they would end up being detained by the police.

In a bizarre turn of events on Thursday midnight, the local police patrolling team spotted as many as six youngsters hanging out suspiciously on Eluru road in the city.

Two of the boys had dressed up as ghosts -- completing their look with wigs and white clothing – in order to scare their friend.

Police in the state have been on high alert and keeping an eye out for any suspicious activities ever since a fake WhatsApp message has been disrupting the law and order situation in the state.

In a move to prevent any sort of chaos or untoward incidents, the police took them into custody.

Speaking to TNM, Machavaram Inspector Sahera said that one of the boys had his birthday and the group had intended to make a prank video and post it on social media.

“All the boys are minors, they have completed Class 10 and 12. Our patrolling team found them on the road at midnight and two of them were wearing wigs. Given the ongoing confusion over fake news, we detained them just to prevent any misunderstanding,” she said.

The boys, the officer said, told the police that they would get money if their video got huge views.

All the minors are currently being counselled in the Machavaram police station.

False rumours of a criminal gang kidnapping children in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has gone viral on WhatsaApp recently.

As many as three people, including two mentally challenged persons, were attacked in Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts in the last two days on the suspicion that they were members of the trafficking gang.

Meanwhile, the AP DGP has asked people not to believe in fake messages and urged them to not take law into their hands.