Police arrest suspected international fraudsters, reject N66m bribe

Police arrest suspected international fraudsters, reject N66m bribe

The Zone-2 Police Command in Lagos has apprehended two suspected international fraudsters allegedly involved in forging foreign certificates and defrauding unsuspecting victims online.

The suspects, identified as Elvis (23) and Kelly (24), were arrested following a detailed investigation by the Anti-Corruption Unit of the command.

AIG Adegoke Fayoade, who oversees the zone, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.

He disclosed that the suspects attempted to bribe the operatives with N66 million to secure their release, but the offer was rejected. This follows a similar case in November, where the same unit turned down a N174 million bribe from another suspect.

According to Fayoade, the suspects were known for forging certificates from various countries and African universities, using these falsified documents to deceive victims over the internet. Their illicit activities reportedly funded their acquisition of luxury cars and properties across Nigeria.

The breakthrough came after Nigerians in the diaspora provided credible information about the group’s fraudulent operations. Acting on the tip-off, detectives were deployed to investigate and arrest the suspects.

The suspects were tracked to a five-star hotel in Osapa-London, Lekki, after arriving at Murtala Muhammed International Airport. Police operatives monitored their movements and eventually arrested them at a bus stop while they attempted to flee the hotel.

AIG Fayoade commended the Anti-Corruption Unit for their diligence and urged citizens to continue providing actionable intelligence to help combat criminal activities.

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“Searching their luggage, one certificate of Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis and a student identity card of Academic City College belonging to Kelly were recovered.

“Further search revealed a transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University belonging to Elvis.

“A letter of English proficiency from the said college and a letter of recommendation from the same Blue Crest College were recovered,” he said.

The AIG said that the suspects made useful statements to the police and confessed that they never got any admission into the school, stressing that they only procured the degree certificates through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.

“The suspects further confessed that the major aim of doing that is to enable them to get a Ghana resident permit, which they got.

“The resident permit is showing them also as a student of Academic City University and that none of them has ever been admitted in the school.

“They claimed they paid a total of 26,000 Ghana Cedis for all the documents procured.

“They confessed that they procured all the documents to evade arrest in Ghana since they don’t have any means of livelihood.

Whenever police intercepted them, they showed their passports that they were students in Ghana.”

Fayoade said that the suspects were also allegedly involved in online romance scams, provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions on the internet through what they call ‘ Facebook bombing’.

He said the suspects presented themselves as an American soldier by the name Captain Donald Rowe, serving in Syria, whom they impersonated on Instagram, using his name to defraud innocent persons.

The AIG said that while detectives were making frantic efforts to get more credible information from the suspects, they started negotiating to bribe the operatives for them to be set free.

“I directed my men to play along and recover the money as an exhibit. Subsequently, the detectives played along and the suspects paid them a sum of N66m, which they collected and kept as an exhibit.

“The Nigeria Police authorities have written to the Ghana embassy to get more information about the result and their suspected partners in Ghana said to be spearheading the fraud.

Fayoade said that they had also spread their dragnets through the International Police, Interpol, to round up their foreign accomplices.

Police arrest suspected international fraudsters, reject N66m bribe

(NAN)