By Our Reporter
The Economic and Financial Crime Comission, EFCC, Sokoto Zonal Office in collaboration with the FBI, recorded a big success, when on the 29th of August, 2019 Operatives of the Commission, from the Zonal Office arrested one Emmanuel Adedeji Oluwatosin, who is on the wanted list of the FBI.
The Zonal Head, Abdullahi Lawal while parading the suspect in Sokoto on Thursday described the arrest as a big success.
He explained that the suspect was arrested in Kaduna in a luxury house believed to be proceed of fraud. Items recovered from the residence include two cars; Mercedes Benz E550, Mercedes Benz C450 and other items include IPhone, laptops, modem and SIM cards Lawal added that the suspect and his accomplices both in Nigeria and overseas, acquired retirement account information (RAI) and personally identifiable information (PII) of multiple victims.
“The information was then used to fraudulently wire funds into newly created business bank accounts tied to the fraudulently created business. The proceeds were then converted into crypto currency; Bitcoin precisely. The suspect and his cohorts were identified in an ongoing Computer Intrusion investigation in the United States”
He said preliminary investigation had so far revealed that about N 1, 437, 889, 157.15 passed through the suspect’s accounts and the commission have also traced the sum of N70,000,000.00 he invested somewhere. Efforts are on to recover the money.
In a related development, Lawal said the Commission has arrested a wanted suspect, Muzakkir Muhammad, through one of its sister agencies in connection with an alleged case of obtaining money under false pretenses and production of fake currencies.
He said the suspect was reported by one of his victims, Abdullahi Ibrahim after he had defrauded another victim, Samaila Sani a Bureau de Change operator to the tune of $33,850.
“Meanwhile, the first complainant, Ibrahim alleged that Muzakri Muhammad collected the sum of N2, 350,000 from him on the pretext of producing the $100,000 for him, which he has neither produced nor refunded the Naira equivalent given to him.
“However, a search was conducted at his house and several incriminating items which the suspect used in luring and defrauding his victims were found therein. The house was marked by operatives of the Commission.
“His method is to make his victims believe that he possess some form of super natural abilities of communicating with Spirits, while in the actual sense of it, they are just some classic tricks he uses to deprive them of their hard earnings.”
The Commission also paraded four Sokoto, local government officials who defrauded civil servants on the payroll by deducting irregular amount of monies from their salaries through State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) since 2013.
The Suspects are; Ishaka Abdullahi (Education Secretary), Abdullahi Idris (Deputy Education Secretary), Abdullahi Dadi (Cashier), and Idris Wamabai (Accountant) as the culprits.
Investigation commenced in a team of operatives dispatched to Sabon Brini LGEA, which resulted in the recovery of several documents and arrest of the suspects.
The suspects would soon be charged to court.
