The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has arrested two undergraduate Internet scammers and six other fraudsters at the upscale 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island, Lagos. One of the undergraduate, Hope Olusegun, a 25 year-old indigene of Okene, Kogi State, claims to be a student of Computer Science at the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia. He was arrested by operatives of EFCC over allegations of fraud and internet scam.
A petition by a concerned group alerted the Commission about the activities of Olusegun and his co-travelers at the elite 1004 Housing Estate where the fraudsters engaged in fraudulent activities of obtaining money by false pretences and forgery.
A search conducted by EFCC operatives at Olusegun' s apartment led to the recovery of several items such as laptops, iPad phones, travelling documents, cheque books, flash drives, internet modem, and three exotic cars - a Mercedes Benz Jeep, One 4Matic Mercedes Benz Car and a Range Rover Sport SUV. When asked how he came about the cars, Olusegun said the cars belonged to his sister who he claimed lives in the United Kingdom.
Operatives of the EFCC also downloaded over 80 implicating documents from the laptops recovered from Olusegun. However, the Commission is making effort to track down other members of Olusegun's syndicate who are currently at large.
Tunde Wasiu Sodiq, another undergraduate and member of another syndicate with close affinity to Olusegun's gang was also nabbed by operatives of the EFCC at the Housing Estate. Besides Sodiq, six other members of the syndicate were equally arrested. They are: Badmus Akeem O, Ajijola Oluwatosin Emmanuel, Adebesin Olalekan, Raji Resaq O, Ajibola Adeniyi and Adeboye Lamidi.
Their arrest was sequel to a petition on their notorious activities at the Housing Estate. Sodiq (23) hails from Lagos and claimed to be an undergraduate of Brandry University, Malaysia. The leader of the syndicate, Badmus Akeem, hails from Ayetoro, Ogun State and attended Oniwaya High School, Agege. He claimed to be a traveler who does odd jobs wherever he travels. "I decided to move to Malaysia to further my education while I do "Hot jobs" as well. I just got back a week ago before the festive period and also produce music and manage artistes," he claimed. On why he chose to live at the expensive 1004 estate where he and his friends pay N30, 000 daily, he said it was to avoid the stress that friends and relations could bring to him. "I didn't stay on the Mainland in Lagos because of stress of friends when you just get back from abroad."
Sodiq said that the Range Rover Sport car which was recovered from them belonged to his mother despite the fact that the car bears his alias, "T.Wizzle" .He stated in his statement that the mother decided to customize the car plate number after the name of his first son.
Other items recovered by the Commission include laptops, flash drives, internet modem, cheque books and a host of others.
They are to be arraigned in court soon.
Wilson Uwujaren
Ag. Head, Media & Publicity
4th January, 2012