A Kwara State High Court in Ilorin on Tuesday sentenced an internet fraudster, Temitope Charles, to 35 years in prison without an option of fine.

The Presiding Judge, Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar, while delivering Judgement on a criminal charge brought against the convict by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), pronounced the convict guilty and sentenced him to seven years in prison on each of the five-count charge.

Abdulgafar directed that the prison sentence should run concurrently. The Judge agreed that EFCC had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt, noting that the evidence of the only prosecution witness, Olamide Sadiq, who is an operative of the commission, was very strong and reliable.

”The evidence of PW1, Olamide Sadiq, was left unchallenged by the defendant; all the chats and text messages were printed from his email address in his presence.

I have considered the testimonies of the PW1, this honourable court is of the opinion that the PW1 is a witness of truth, the accused person indeed was in possession of fake documents, the prosecution has sufficiently link the defendant to the email address,” Abdulgafar said.

Earlier, Defence Counsel, A.B Bakare, had urged the judge to temper justice with mercy, saying that his client was a first time offender. Prosecuting Counsel, Sessan Ola, opposed to the request and asked the court to sentence the convict according to the provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act.

Ola said: “going by the provisions of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, the minimum punishment for this type of offence is seven years and maximum of 20 years, the court can not use its discretion outside the same.”

The EFCC had arraigned Charles before the court on a five- count charge bordering on internet fraud, sometime in March. Charles was allegedly caught with some documents indicating that he wanted to defraud unsuspecting members of the public.

One of the five-count charge read: “the suspect, who is also known as Teresa Simon, was said to have been apprehended on February 28, 2019, in Ilorin in possession of documents containing false representation with intent to defraud, an offence said to be contrary to Sections 6 and 8 (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act,”

A 27-year-old man, identified as Chukwuma Enemuo has been arrested for allegedly selling his three-day-old baby boy for N150,000 in Anambra State.

The incident occurred in Ozubulu in the Ekwusigo Local Government Area of the state and according to reports, the man who conspired with a 45-year-old man, Obi Chidubem to sell the baby to one Anulika Okafor, had lied to his wife that their baby had died shortly after birth.

However, the business went awry when a neighbour reportedly revealed the development. The Police Public Relations Officer in the State, Haruna Mohammed confirmed the incident saying the baby had been recovered in good condition while the matter was being investigated.

Mohammed said the incident occurred on Monday and the three suspects in the incident have been arrested. He said;

“The Police detectives attached to Ozubulu division arrested one Chukwuma Enemuo, aged 27 years of Okwutu Amawka village, Ozubulu in Ekwusigo LGA of Anambra State.

The suspect conspired with one Obi Chidubem, aged 45 years of Umuabuche Eziama village, Uli in Ihiala LGA and sold his three-day-old baby boy for the sum of N150,000 to one Mrs Anulika Okafor aged 39 years of Uruokwe village, Ozubulu.

The Suspect lied to his wife, one Oluchi Enemuo, aged 20 years of Okwutu Amakwa by telling her that the baby is dead shortly after delivery. All the three suspects have been arrested, the baby was also recovered. The case is under investigation after which suspects would be charged to court.”

The Anambra State Police has paraded two men, Okwuchukwu Anyanwu, 36 and Emeka Odoh, 25 who raped a mentally challenged woman in Oyi.

Spokesperson of the Command, SP Haruna Mohammed said that on Monday, 24 June at about 3:pm, police detectives attached to Oyi Division arrested the suspects Okwuchukwu Anyanwu, 36 and Emeka Odoh, 25, all of Ezi Umunya in Oyi LGA of Anambra State.

The suspects had on Sunday, June 23, at about 11am took advantage of one Nwanneka Nwaizu, 23,a mentally challenged girl and had unlawful carnal knowledge with her.

The scene was visited by the Police and victim taken to General Hospital Onitsha for medical examination.

The case is under investigation after which suspects would be charged to Court for prosecution.

THE Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Monday, revealed that Oyo State has the highest number of cybercrimes and corruption related cases out of the six states in the South West.

This was disclosed by the zonal Head of the commission, Mr. Friday Ebelo when speaking with newsmen in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The statistics, he noted, was based on the last six months since the baton of leadership changed in the zone.

Most of the suspects, who perpetrate cybercrimes and other fraudulent acts, he noted, are between the ages of 18 and 40.

Ebelo said: “If you are looking for the number of convictions, Oyo State should be seen as the highest. We are based in Ibadan and since I resumed here, the tempo of our activities has increased.

“These suspects of cybercrimes and fraud related cases operate from Lagos and share their loots in Ibadan. But now, most of them are leaving Ibadan for the adjoining states.”

While giving further breakdown of the statistics, the EFCC official said: “This year, the zone received a total of 481 petitions. We were able to secure 83 convictions out of the 107 cases filed at different courts within the zone. That represents 83 per cent of the total number of cases filed.”

“From January to June 21, 2019, an aggregate sum of N116.9 million has been recovered. Others, which are in foreign currencies, include $39,129, £1,800 and £50,” he said.

He added that 65 vehicles were recovered from the suspects.

Ebelo explained that in some cases, criminals, who act as agents of the commission, use its name to seal up properties saying this is a scam as the commission does not work with any agents.

He appealed to parents to be more vigilant and pay constant visits to their wards in schools.

The Rivers State Police Command have rescued four members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and two other persons from kidnappers.State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Nnamdi Omoni, said the police achieved the feat in sustained and unrelenting efforts in tackling crime on the East-West Road.
He explained that the police deployed its operatives to Rumuji in a sting operation led by the Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Ademola Adebayo to a forest at Evekwu in Emohua Local Government Area where the four corps members and two other victims were rescued.

“The victims, including four youth corps members were abducted last week in a commercial bus travelling from Lagos to Port Harcourt. They were, however, rescued unhurt and have been debriefed. Their Families have been contacted for necessary hand over.
“They are, Onyema Easter Ogechi ‘f’, Nnaji Chioma ‘f’, Ogeh Florence ‘f, Akinduro Abel ‘m’, Franklin Ayama ‘f’ and Akinpelu Solomon ‘m’,” he said.He said the Commissioner of Police (CP), Usman A. Belel, has ordered security beef up on the East/West, to stem kidnapping and facilitate the arrest of perpetrators.

Omoni also disclosed that the operatives also killed a notorious kidnapper and armed robbery kingpin identified as Zulu Ogwumike (aka Black Bush) during a gun duel. Besides, Men of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested two suspected ATM machines robbers at Ota in Ado-Ota Council of the state.

A statement issued by the Command’s Spokesman, Abimbola Oyeyemi in Abeokuta yesterday, disclosed that the suspects, Ebenezer Olubukola, Olajide Oladejo and another, who is at large, are members of a syndicate who specialised in robbing people of cash withdrawn from ATM machines.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Police Force has denied a publication credited to Ace of Spades Consult Nigeria Limited, that ‘‘individuals and legal entity (both foreign and domestic) will from July 1, 2019 have the opportunity to sign up and acquire a Police Background Check Number (PBCN), through a dedicated website to be

A statement issued by Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba, noted: “While restating the commitment of the Nigeria Police under its current leadership to continue to work with private entities in evolving technologically driven solutions to address security challenges in the country, the Force however, wishes to state that claims by Ace of Spades Consult are a pack of lies.