Oludayo Adeagbo, a British-Nigerian, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in a multimillion-dollar business email compromise (BEC) scheme.

According to the US department of justice, Adeagbo, who also goes by John Edwards and John Dayo, conspired with others to steal over $3 million from different entities in Texas, including local government entities, construction companies, and a Houston-area college.

Adeagbo and conspirators also defrauded a North Carolina university of more than $1.9 million.

The case began in August 2022 when Adeagbo and two other Nigerian citizens, Donald Echeazu, 42, and Olabanji Egbinola, 44, were extradited from the United Kingdom (UK), where they resided, to face charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, and money laundering.

The US department of justice said offences were committed in North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.

On April 8, Adeagbo pleaded guilty in two cases against him in North Carolina and Texas for participating in a business email compromise scheme, which is also called a “cyber-enabled financial fraud” scheme.

A business email compromise scheme can be initiated by scammers creating fake accounts pretending to be companies that a business regularly does business with.

Court records showed that Adeagbo and his co-conspirators obtained information about significant construction projects throughout the United States, including an ongoing multi-million-dollar project at a university in North Carolina.

“To execute the scheme, Adeagbo, Echeazu, and others registered a domain name similar to that of the legitimate construction company in charge of the university’s project and created an email address that closely resembled that of an employee of the construction company,” the department of justice said.

“Using the fake email address, the fraudsters deceived and directed the university to wire a payment of more than $1.9 million to a bank account controlled by an individual working under the direction of Adeagbo and his co-conspirators.”

Adeagbo and his co-conspirators pulled the same tricks in Texas, targeting local government entities and universities pretending to be construction companies. They received over $3 million from the scheme and $5 million overall.

Adeagbo has been ordered to pay $942,655.03 in restitution and will serve seven years in prison.

A magistrate court in Abuja has sent a Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidate to jail.

The candidate, identified as Jide Josiah Jisos, is facing a six-month sentence for impersonation committed during 2019 UTME.

Folashade Oyekan, the court justice, convicted Jisos after she found him guilty of a one-count charge of impersonation.

The officials of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) arrested Jisos while monitoring the 2019 UTME at Brix Academy in Abuja.

During the exam, Jisos presented himself as a representative of a non-governmental organization (NGO) that came to oversee the examination.

However, Jisos was arrested and handed over to security officials for investigation after being discovered to be an impersonator.

He was busted after he could not justify his claims during the questioning by the leader of the monitoring team in the hall.

During interrogation, he confessed that he was not affiliated with any NGO and was in the examination hall to assist his daughter in taking the 2019 UTME.

After being found guilty of impersonation, Jisos was sentenced to six months in prison with an option of a N100,000 fine.

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) says it has seized cocaine worth N4.4 billion naira at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

Femi Babafami, NDLEA spokesperson, disclosed the seizure in a statement on Sunday, detailing the agency’s operations in the last week.

According to Babafemi, the drug consignments were wrapped in nine polythene bags and hidden in waste collectors in the two rear lavatories of an Ethiopian Airlines flight ET900.

The spokesperson said they were recovered during the post-landing cabin cleaning, adding that the MMIA strategic command of the NDLEA was alerted about the strange objects.

The statement said the trafficking was an effort by members of an international drug syndicate that operates between Brazil, Ethiopia, and Nigeria to smuggle a total of 845 wraps of cocaine weighing 18.72 kg into Lagos.

“Investigations revealed that the seized drugs were conveyed from Brazil to Ethiopia through ingestion and excreted in Addis Ababa by a set of couriers while some other traffickers picked them up and attempted to smuggle them into Nigeria through the Lagos airport before their attempt was frustrated with the cooperation of the airline’s authorities and other airport stakeholders,” the statement reads.

Babafemi noted that the incident occurred on October 29.

He added that NDLEA officials also intercepted 754, 000 pills of tapentadol and acetaminophen 225mg worth N525 million in a targeted and watch-listed container from India at the Apapa seaport in Lagos.

The spokesperson said the agency’s officers, on October 28, countered attempts by some drug trafficking syndicates to export 2.928kg cocaine, cannabis, and tramadol concealed in body cream containers, and pieces of artwork to Australia, the United Arab Emirate (UAE), and the United Kingdom through some courier companies in Lagos

ARRESTS MADE IN FCT, KOGI, TARABA

Meanwhile, in the federal capital territory, the NDLEA said Mujahid Hamisu, a 24-year-old, was arrested with 147,000 pills of tramadol concealed in black nylon bags containing plumbing materials along Kwali-Gwagwalada Abuja expressway on his way from Onitsha, Anambra, on Saturday.

He said operatives caught one Seun Abimbola on the same day with 512 grams of methamphetamine during a raid operation at the Giri junction area of the FCT.

He said in Kogi, officers on patrol along Kabba- Obajana highway arrested Mercy Ameh, 28, in a commercial bus travelling from Lagos to Abuja with fake naira notes worth N4.3m after a search of her luggage.

In Taraba, Danlami Fakwa, 46, was arrested at Sabon Gari, Jalingo LGA with 49.795kg cannabis.

Adamawa, Katsina, Kaduna, Ondo, and Edo were also listed as states were arrests were made in the past week.