Ponzi scheme: Police arrest four Beninois, two others in Gombe

The Gombe State Police Command has arrested six suspects over attempt to defraud residents of the state.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Ishola Babaita, made this known at a news conference on Friday in Gombe.

Babaita said that the arrest was made possible through its community policing strategy as well as the proactiveness of the command to rid the state of any form of crime and criminalities.

According to him, the six suspects comprise two indigenes of Gombe State and four from Benin Republic, who entered into the country illegally and were arrested in Gombe on January 18.

He said: “On January 18 at 8:30pm, the Command received information that three Hummer buses brought some group of young men numbering about 109.

“Immediately, Police operatives in synergy with the Department of State Services were dispatched to the scene and the people were invited to the DSS facility, where they were interrogated.

“The two Nigerians were transferred to the police for discrete investigations and possible prosecution, while the four Beninois were handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service, which later returned them back to the police.”

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Babaita said during the interrogation, the suspects claimed that they were into online networking business called QNET.

He said that the documents tendered “as Independent Representatives (IR) of the QNRT revealed that an IR is not an employee, agent or official representative of QNET.

“This means that as IR, they are to be solely responsible for complying with applicable local laws, ethical practices and paying taxes on commissions and assumes all risks related to their IR entrepreneurial activities.”

According Babaita, the 109 youths were recruited into the state by the six suspects to serve as marketers.

He said that based on investigations, it was established that the suspects were into Ponzi scheme to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

He added that at the conclusion of the investigation, all suspects would be charged to court.

Babaita urged residents of the state to be wary of those they transact business with to avoid being defrauded.

However, one of the suspects, 26-year-old Abdullahi Yusuf from Gombe, while speaking with newsmen, denied that the business was fraudulent, saying it was an online networking.

Yusuf said he started the business in Benin Republic, but decided to come to Gombe State to empower youths with the knowledge of networking.

Yusuf, who insisted that the business was not fraudulent, said he was ready to defend himself in court.

Solomon Micah, a 27-year-old indigene of Taraba State, who was recruited as a marketer, said that he paid N500,000 to register for the business and got $50 as bonus.

The News Agency of Nigeria also reports that some of the alleged marketers were paraded along with the six main suspects at the Police Command Headquarters.

The Eagle