The Nigeria Police Force have reaped a heavy harvest of arrests as it announced that it had got 24 cyber criminals and sundry career criminals in its net.
A release by the Force Public Relations Officer, FPRO, Mr. Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police, DCP, said the suspects, nabbed for cybercrime and other related offences, include 23 male and one female.
Specifically, the suspects were arrested for their involvement and indictment in cases of romance and online dating scams, generating and deployment of fake bank alerts, hacking and fraudulent wire transfers, cyber stalking and impersonation of high-profile personalities in Nigeria and across the world.
Exhibits recovered from the suspects include:
- 11 Laptop Computers
- 37 Mobile Phones
iii. 11 SIM cards of different telecoms networks
- 5 International passports
- 12 ATM Cards
- Fake US Dollar notes.
vii. Quantities of dry leaves suspected to be Marijuana
Notable amongst the cases is the arrest of three brothers- Emmanuel Ushie, 23; Henry Ushie a 30-year-old graduate of Statistics from the Anambra State University, and Matthew Ushie, a 28-year-old OND graduate from the Federal Polytechnic Oko.
The trio were allegedly running a fake Frank Mba Foundation bank account with FCMB, and a fake Facebook account to defraud innocent Nigerians of their hard-earned monies under the pretext that the Foundation is raising money to help vulnerable Nigerians during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Frank Mba further revealed that investigations by police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) showed that the brothers engaged extensively and serially in such frauds and other related cybercrimes.
“During unrelenting manhunt of the fraudsters, Henry Ushie ‘m’ 30yrs, an elder sibling to Emmanuel Ushie, was identified as the gang leader of the syndicate behind the scam. He went underground as his younger siblings also involved in the crime were arrested.
“Following weeks of intense follow-up and meticulous investigations, the kingpin – Henry Ushie ‘m’ was arrested on Thursday 11/6/2020 at about 1255hrs at a hideout in Ihiala, Anambra State. His arrest eventually led to the arrest of his younger brother Mathew Ushie ‘m’ who is also an active member of the syndicate.
“Further investigation reveal that Mathew Ushie ‘m’ had been arrested in Ghana last year in a well-publicised bust of fraudsters where he and other international fraudsters used the name of the Inspector General of Police of Ghana, John Kudalor, to defraud unsuspecting Ghanaian policemen in the guise of providing opportunity for them to attend United Nations peacekeeping missions using a fake Facebook account. Information about his arrest and parading before the press in Ghana is available on the internet.
“Similarly, Henry Ushie had also been arrested in 2017 by the IRT for impersonating then ACP ABBA Kyari, the Commander of IRT, on Facebook and defrauding many innocent Nigerians before he was arrested and subsequently charged to Court for impersonation. He eventually got bail from the court and went back to same crime.”
DCP Mba said the suspects will be charged to court at the conclusion of investigations.
Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Abubakar Adamu, has assured Nigerians of the continued resolve of the Force to rid the country of all forms of crimes and criminality including cyber crimes.
The IGP also urged citizens to redirect their energy to the positive utilization of the cyberspace, cyber resources and the social media, and shun their related negative influences.
