LATEST NEWS ON FBI LIST:
Nigeria’s Anti-graft Agency, EFCC Bust GHANA Hideouts of 77 Nigerians indicted for America Internet Fraud…’We are cracking up on these criminally-minded Nigerians, All our offices on RED ALERT to arrest them’
* ‘We have recovered N486m in cash and arrested 28 suspects so far’
*The collaboration between the commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation led to the recovery of $314,000 and N373m
* ’14 of the suspects have been charged and convicted while nine are still undergoing trial, as other five are still under investigations’-IBRAHIM MAGU, Acting Chairman of EFCC
BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU, AMERICA FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF, Naija Standard Newspaper
JUDGEMENT SEEMS TO BE QUICKLY KNOCKING FOR 77 NIGERIAN FUGITIVES WHO WERE INDICTED BY AMERICA’S FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, FBI, FOR STEALING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ONLINE SCAMS WHICH HAS LED TO BILLIONS OF FUNDS LOST TO THE AMERICAN ECONOMY.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has mandated its operatives to begin manhunt of the 77 Nigerians indicted by a Federal Bureau of Investigations, FBI, investigation on internet fraud.It was gathered that the operatives were also directed to crack down on collaborators of internet fraud who are already on the radar of the EFCC across the country. The source said:“All the offices in Nigeria have been placed on red alert to track them
Also, the chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, while speaking over the weekend said the commission will soon storm various known hideouts of the suspected fraudsters in Nigeria.
Magu said the commission has gathered the information that most of the fraudsters have moved to Ghana and other neighbouring countries with the hope of evading possible arrest.He said: “It is not as if we are not doing anything, we are re-energising; we are working. We will go out and storm all their hideouts.” “We will also cooperate with our partners. Last time we were in Ghana we realised that at a point they were so many there. They have all gone to Ghana. “Most of them are in Ghana so we will cooperate with our neighbours to check the menace of Yahoo Yahoo boys and cybercrime since it is a borderless crime.”
Meanwhile, the Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has said the collaboration between the commission and the FBI led to the recovery of $314,000 and N373m.Speaking during a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday, Magu said the commission has also arrested 28 suspects in the process. 14 of the suspects have been charged and convicted while nine are still undergoing trial. The other five are still under investigations.
Magu, who spoke through Mohammed Rabo, Zonal Head, EFCC, Lagos, said while the sum of $314,000 had been recovered, the sum of N373m had been traced to various commercial banks by operatives attached to the Lagos zonal office of the commission. The monies equal N486m in all. Recall that the FBI last week released a list of 80 persons most of whom are Nigerians for alleged online fraud. The release also generated mixed reactions from Nigerians on social media.
*Additional Reports by Nigerian Tribune
