…apprehended with one-way ticket to Lagos State, used funds for housing projects, car businesses in Lekki, Banana Island as wife goes into hiding
*Australian Federal Police accesses suspect’s real-time, historical telecommunications data for tracking purposes
*“We used our specialized units’ map cellular signal strengths, directional antennae, GPS data, and tower pings against satellite imagery to pinpoint the suspect’s physical movements and we caught the 38-year-old suspect live in the airport”–AUSTRALIAN Federal Police
*BY YOMI BADARU KEHINDE/Homeland Security Special Correspondent, Australia, Naija Standard Newspaper Inc USA
HE was born in Nigeria. He relocated to Adelaide, Australia a few decades ago in search of greener pasture abroad. He initially squatted with friends, got his legal documents intact, hired for a well-paying job and moved into his own fully furnished apartment. As time went by, Foluso Omole received his citizenship as an Australian. He was not ready to settle for struggle or living a snail-speed lifestyle, he opted to go into fraud and successfully duped the National Disability Insurance Scheme, NDIS, in a fraudulent plot of a princely Five Million Australian Dollars, $5million AUD cash.
*PICTURE: THE SUSPECT, FOLUSO OMOLE, WHEN THE GOING WAS GOOD… POSES IN A DRINKING BAR IN AUSTRALIA:
Omole constantly wired money back home to his wife in Lagos State, Nigeria where he had a luxurious mansion built for him in Victoria Island, while he ensured his spouse coordinate real estate projects and car mart businesses for him in Lekki and Banana Island area of the economic nerve center of Africa’s most populous black nation in the world.
Along the line, Omole got wind of his impending arrest by the Australian law enforcement officers, he quickly bought a one-way ticket to Lagos. He hurriedly rushed to the Adelaide Airport (ADL), being Australia’s fifth-busiest aviation gateway, located in West Beach just 6 km (about a 15-minute drive) west of the Adelaide central business district.
*PICTURE: AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AFP, HANDCUFF SUSPECT INSIDE THE AIRPORT’S MALE RESTROOM:
And there was a flight delay. He had to hide in the male restroom. Unknowing for this suspect, Omole’s criminality was already exposed, as he was being monitored within the country.
Not taking any chances, the Australian law enforcement and security agencies use several methods and tools to track this suspect’s mobile phone location.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) accessed Omole’s real-time or historical telecommunications data-such as call charge records and tower connections-under the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth), with a warrant or formal authorization for serious offences.
*PICTURE: AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE, AFP, COMBAT READY TO ARREST SUSPECT AT THE AIRPORT:
The Police used “tower dumps” to compel mobile network providers to hand over data identifying every device that connected to specific cell towers within a given window of time the suspect movement came under radar of surveillance.
The Department of Home Affairs accessed tools like Locate X which aggregates location data harvested from commercial mobile apps to track device movement histories and draw digital fences around the suspect’s target areas.
Specialized AFP units implemented its map cellular signal strengths, directional antennae, GPS data, and tower pings against satellite imagery to pinpoint the suspect’s exact physical movements within the airport.
He was preparing to fly to Nigeria before he was arrested, a court has heard.
Omole appeared in the Adelaide Magistrates Court recently where he was refused bail, after Australian Federal Police officers arrested him inside the restroom at Adelaide Airport.
The court heard Mr. Omole, 38, a dual Australian and Nigerian citizen, had “purchased a one-way ticket to Nigeria” before he was arrested as he allegedly prepared to leave the country.
A prosecutor told the court it appeared he had “sent, over the course of his offending, significant funds back to Nigeria” where his wife resides.
Law enforcement sources told Naija Standard Newspaper Inc USA Media Group that his wife, presently on the run in Nigeria coordinated all the projects and businesses of the suspect with the alleged ill-gotten fund. “We have it on a good authority that Omole possesses one of the luxurious mansions in Nigeria’s Victoria Island city area. His wife helps with the proceeds of the $5million cash to ensure they run real estate companies and car businesses in Lagos’ Lekki and Banana Island,” stated the security officers.
The court heard Mr. Omole was working as a NDIS coordinator and operated two businesses which employed a number of staff at the time of the alleged offending.
The prosecutor said it was alleged Mr. Omole had received “information improperly” from a woman who was employed by the National Disability Insurance Agency over the course of six years, and “used that information to obtain benefit fraudulently”.
The court heard she has also been charged with offending and was due to appear in court soon.
Fighting back, Omole’s defence lawyer, Mark Twiggs, told the court his client had informed him that he had been planning to travel on a “return ticket to London” which was “purchased prior to any raid” on the woman’s home.
“The charges are denied. He has no record at all,” Mr. Twiggs said.
“My client has good reason why he should be given bail.”
Mr. Omole is yet to enter pleas to one count of person dealing with proceeds of indictable crime over $1 million and one count of dealing with money/property valued greater than $1 million that is proceeds of crime.
Magistrate Patrick Hill refused bail on the basis that Mr. Omole posed a flight risk.
“Whether it was a one-way ticket to Nigeria or a return ticket to London do make a difference as to the court’s assessment of whether or not Mr. Omole is a flight risk,” Mr. Hill said.
“For the other reasons put forward by the prosecution, in any event, I remain concerned that he is at risk of flight and the application for bail is refused.”
Mr. Omole will return to court next month.
A man charged over an alleged $5 million NDIS fraud plot has been refused release on bail.
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