File Photo of Range Rover Sport
8 young men were apprehended at the 1004 Estate in Victoria Island on Friday 4th of January 2013.Wilson Uwujaren, Head of Media and Publicity for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confirmed.
Sources tell BN that the EFCC acted on a tip-off from a resident of the estate. “A petition by a concerned group alerted the Commission about the activities of Olusegun and his co-travelers at the elite 1004 Housing Estate where the fraudsters engaged in fraudulent activities of obtaining money by false pretences and forgery.“
The EFCC press release states
“One of the undergraduates, Hope Olusegun, a 25 year-old from Okene in Kogi State, and claims to be a student of Computer Science at the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia. He was arrested by operatives of EFCC over allegations of fraud and internet scam.A search conducted by EFCC operatives at Olusegun’ s apartment led to the recovery of several items such as laptops, iPad phones, traveling documents, cheque books, flash drives, internet modem, and three exotic cars – a Mercedes Benz Jeep, One 4Matic Mercedes Benz Car and a Range Rover Sport SUV. When asked how he came about the cars, Olusegun said the cars belonged to his sister who he claimed lives in the United Kingdom. Operatives of the EFCC also downloaded over 80 implicating documents from the laptops recovered from Olusegun.However, the Commission is making effort to track down other members of Olusegun’s syndicate who are currently at large. Tunde Wasiu Sodiq, another undergraduate and member of another syndicate with close affinity to Olusegun’s gang was also nabbed by operatives of the EFCC at the Housing Estate.Besides Sodiq, six other members of the syndicate were equally arrested. They are Badmus Akeem O, Ajijola Oluwatosin Emmanuel, Adebesin Olalekan, Raji Resaq O, Ajibola Adeniyi and Adeboye Lamidi.Their arrest was sequel to a petition on their notorious activities at the Housing Estate. Sodiq (23) hails from Lagos and claimed to be an undergraduate of Brandry University, Malaysia .The leader of the syndicate, Badmus Akeem, hails from Ayetoro, Ogun State and attended Oniwaya High School, Agege. He claimed to be a traveler who does odd jobs wherever he travels.”
Here is what the alleged leader of the syndicate Badmus Akeem is quoted to have said – “I decided to move to Malaysia to further my education while I do “Hot jobs” as well. I just got back a week ago before the festive period and also produce music and manage artistes.“
When asked why he chose to live in 1004 at the rate of N30,000 daily, he responded that it was to avoid the stress that friends and relations could bring to him – “I didn’t stay on the Mainland in Lagos because of stress of friends when you just get back from abroad.”
Sodiq claimed the Range Rover Sport car which was recovered from them belonged to his mother. This raised suspicions as the personalized number plate bears his nickname – “T.Wizzle”. In his statement, he claimed his mother “decided to customize the car plate number after the name of her first son.“
The representative of the EFCC confirmed that the suspects will be arraigned in court soon. In addition to the vehicles, other items seized include laptops, flash drives, internet modems and cheque books.
