EFCC Arrests 36 in Port Harcourt as Lagos Court Jails Two Fraudsters

Nigeria’s anti-graft agency has arrested 36 people suspected of internet fraud in Port Harcourt, while a Lagos court has convicted two men linked to an earlier fraud operation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) said Wednesday.

The Port Harcourt Zonal Directorate of the EFCC carried out a sting operation on Tuesday across several parts of the city, following intelligence on alleged online fraud. Items seized from the suspects included vehicles, a Q-link motorcycle, mobile phones and laptops said to contain fraudulent documents.

“The suspects will be charged to court upon completion of investigation,” EFCC spokesman Dele Oyewale said.

In a related development, the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday convicted and sentenced Yusuf Ramon and Ganiyu Ibrahim for internet fraud. Both men were among 93 suspects arrested during a raid on August 10 at a hotel near the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library in Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The EFCC said Ramon impersonated a foreign woman on Instagram, while Ibrahim posed as an American woman on Facebook to defraud a victim of $150. They pleaded guilty to one-count charges of impersonation.

Justice D.I. Dipeolu sentenced each to one month in prison with the option of a ₦200,000 fine. The court ordered their mobile devices and funds recovered to be forfeited to the federal government.