25 students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Oyo State have been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over their alleged involvement in cybercrime including romance scam, love scam, possession of forged documents and obtaining money by false pretence.
The arrested students said to be between the ages of 18-29 were identified as Pelumi Adigun, 18; Umaru Frederick, 21; Damilola Emmanuel, 22; Tomiwa Oyewole, 29; Adeleke Owolabi, 24; Oladosu Abdullahi, 23; Abdulmusaq Ismail, 25; Isajimi Joshua, 23; Olaniyan Tunde, 22, and Ebosele Francis, 28.
Others are: Oladejo Ibrahim, 26; Oluwadamilare Abimbola, 25; Orimoloye Joshua, 23; Alfred Samuel, 22; Bayewu Ishola, 23; Abiola Gbenga, 25; Alfred Daniel, 20; Agboola Solomon, 21; Arolewola Damilola, 25; Amoo Tunmise, 23; Akeem Taiwo, 25; Segun Ajibola, 25; Hassan Segun, 24; Onicha Joel, 23, and Tafa Basit, 25.
The students’ arrest which was effected in a three-day raid carried out between September 16 and 19, came after Ismail snitched them out. It was gathered that Ismail who confessed to his involved in internet fraud took the EFCC operatives round the hostel, leading to the arrest of many.
EFCC’s statement reads in part;
The students, who are aged between 18 and 29 years old, were arrested at their off-campus hostels, following a three-day raid carried out between September 16 and 19, 2019. Operatives acted on the intelligence report, which was investigated using sophisticated equipment. The raid also followed months of surveillance and monitoring of their activities.
In the course of executing the search, Ismail, who confessed to being involved in internet fraud, took operatives round hostels, leading to the arrest of many of the culprits. Some of the suspects who jumped over the fence to escape arrest were nabbed in the process.
Some of the items recovered from them, which are believed to be the proceeds of their illegal activities online, include, a 4matic Benz, a Toyota Camry, a Toyota Corolla, two Macbook computers, two iPads, two iPhones and many other documents, which will be subjected to forensic analysis.
The suspected internet fraudsters, who are currently in the custody of the EFCC will be soon be arraigned in court.
