Crime

N266m fraud: Fake army general who forged president Buhari’s signature bags 7-year jail term

Published

2 years ago

July 8, 2022 7:27 am

BodexNG

A special offences court in Ikeja has sentenced one Bolarinwa Abiodun to seven years imprisonment over false pretence, forgery and fraud.

Abiodun was arrested by operatives of the Lagos command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged impersonation as an army general.

Abiodun was arraigned on April 11 before Oluwatoyin Taiwo, a judge, on a 13-count charge bordering on “obtaining money by false pretence, forgery of documents and possession of documents containing false pretence to the tune of N266,500,000″.

In the course of the trial, the prosecution, through its team of lawyers — Rotimi Oyedepo, A.O. Muhammed, S.I. Suleiman and E.K. Uduak — presented six witnesses and tendered documentary evidence to prove the case.

After the EFCC closed its case on June 20, 2022, the court ordered Abiodun to open his defence.

However, at the court session on Thursday, Otunba Ogunleye, defence counsel, informed the court that his client had decided to change his plea “rather than going through the rigours of defence”.

With no objection from the prosecution, the 13 counts were read afresh to the defendant.

“I’m guilty,” he said to all the counts.

Following his guilty plea, Oyedepo gave a review of the facts, urging the court to rely on the evidence of the six witnesses presented by the prosecution and the various documents tendered through them as exhibits A to W.

“We seek to rely on the unequivocal admission of the defendant by way of his plea admitting the essential ingredients of the offence against him,” he said.

“The law is trite. When the defendant pleads guilty to an offence, the burden on the prosecution is as light as feather.

“Even on the strength of his extra-judicial statement, it’s clear as crystal that the defendant admitted to the essential ingredients of the offences alleged against him.

“We seek your lordship’s order to convict the defendant as charged.”

Delivering judgment, Oluwatoyin Taiwo, the presiding judge, convicted the defendant.

The defence counsel prayed for “a very minimal sentence”, adding that the defendant was remorseful as “demonstrated by his willingness to change his plea and not to further waste the judicial time in this case”.

“He has a wife and several children as well as numerous extended family members under his care to whom he is the breadwinner,” the lawyer added.

Responding, Oyedepo said although the defendant has no record of previous conviction, the court should impose a sentence to serve as deterrent to others who may want to engage in similar crime.

He further urged the court to order the forfeiture of four vehicles recovered from him — a black Range Rover Sport, a black BMW, a black Toyota Landcruiser, and a white Toyota Hilux — and a property located at 1A, Joke Ayo Street, Riverside estate, Alagbado, Lagos, as part of restitution to the victim.

Oyedepo also urged the court to order the closure of the First Bank account used to perpetrate the fraud, in which the defendant changed his name from “Hassan Karim Ayinde” to “Bolarinwa Oluwasegun Abiodun” to perpetrate the fraud.

In sentencing the convict, the judge held that the jail term was to pass a message to fraudsters.

“The defendant went the length of involving a former president of this country, general Obasanjo, and forged documents allegedly signed by the current president of this country, President Muhammadu Buhari,” the judge said.

“It is so sad that people like the defendant have given our beloved country a bad image.

“It is obvious that the defendant appears to be a very intelligent man; more is the pity that he could not put his ingenuity to better use.

“In the light of the seriousness of this scam, and in order to send a clear message to all scammers, fraudsters and criminals, this court is prepared to protect the interest of Nigerians and the society at large.

“I, therefore, sentence the defendant to seven years imprisonment without an option of fine.”

The court also ordered the forfeiture of the proprieties in order to help the victim recover his money.

The convict was also ordered to pay N20 million as restitution to the victim, while an order was also given for the closure of his First Bank account.

Crime

NDLEA arrests Canadian at Lagos airport for ‘importing bags of cannabis’

Published

4 days ago

October 7, 2024 8:41 am

BodexNG

The operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested Adrienne Munju, a Canadian, allegedly importing a large consignment of synthetic cannabis.

In a statement on Sunday, Femi Babafemi, NDLEA spokesperson, said the 41-year-old suspect was arrested on October 3 during the inward clearance of passengers on a KLM airline flight from Canada at terminal 1 of the Lagos airport.

Babafemi added that the Munju was caught with 74 parcels of the illicit substance weighing 35.20 kg stuffed in two of her three bags.

“In her statement, she claimed she was recruited to traffic the consignment through an online platform for 10,000 Canadian dollars upon successful delivery in Lagos. She said she took the offer because she needed the money to pay for her ongoing master’s degree programme in Canada,” the NDLEA statement reads.

Similarly, the anti-drug agency intercepted 13,298,000 pills of opioids and 338,253 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup at the Port Harcourt ports, Onne, Rivers.

Babafemi said the seized consignment is worth over “N9 billion in street value” and included Tramadol, Tramaking Quick Action Tramadol, Tamol-X, Royal Tapentadol and Carisoprodol, among others.

He said that the opioids were recovered in three containers coming from India, targeted by the NDLEA during a 100 per cent joint examination of the cargoes.

“NDLEA operatives at the Tincan seaport in Lagos on Thursday, October 3, intercepted 100 parcels of Canadian Loud weighing 50kg. The consignment was packed in 20 parcels, each in five jumbo bags concealed in a container with four units of imported vehicles that came from Canada,” the statement reads.

“Though the container had earlier been cleared out of the ESS Libra Bonded Terminal in Ikorodu but based on credible intelligence, NDLEA operatives were able to trace it to a warehouse in Ikorodu where the illicit consignments were discovered in one of the imported vehicles, a Toyota Sienna bus. A suspect, Abubakar Shuaibu Ibrahim has already been taken into custody in connection with the seizure.”

Crime

EFCC arrests 43 internet fraudsters in Port Harcourt

Published

7 days ago

October 4, 2024 9:59 am

BodexNG

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) says it has arrested 43 suspected internet fraudsters in Port Harcourt, Rivers state.

In a statement on Thursday, Dele Oyewale, EFCC spokesperson, said the suspects were arrested during a sting operation on Wednesday at Rumuekeni and Iwofe areas of the state.

“They were arrested for alleged internet fraud following actionable intelligence surveillance on their suspected involvement in computer-related offences,” the statement reads.

“Items recovered from them include different brands of mobile phones, laptops, international passports and Automated Teller Machine, ATM cards of different banks, five vehicles, two motorcycles and a Point of Sale, POS, machine.

“The suspects will be charged to court upon conclusion of investigation.”

Crime

NDLEA seizes 1000kg of illicit substances, nabs 420 suspects in Kaduna

Published

1 week ago

October 3, 2024 12:55 pm

BodexNG

The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency Kaduna State Command, said its operatives have seized 1,045.93 kg of various illicit substances and arrested 420 suspects in the third quarter of the year.

Its commander, Mr Samaila Danmalam, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Kaduna.

Danmalam said, “The command had within the period under review arrested a total of 420 suspects, comprising 404 males and 16 females.

“The figure represents both drug dealers, drug users and traffickers.”

The commander also disclosed that the command has made seizures of various illicit substances.

He said, “The illicit substances included Cocaine, Cannabis Sativa, Rohypnol, Tramadol, Methamphetamine, and other psychotropic substances grossly weighing 1,045.93 kg.

“The command seized a total of 1,393 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition and equally seized four locally made arms in the course of its numerous operations in the period being reported.

“The command equally secured the conviction of 30 drug offenders and charged a total of 54 suspects, while investigations on others are ongoing.”

Danmalam said in its non-kinetic approach to combating the drug menace through drug demand reduction activities, the command carried out various sensitization and awareness programmes.

“It counselled 50 drug users while it rehabilitated 50 drug-dependent persons, who successfully recovered and were reintegrated into mainstream society,” he stated.

He said the command would continue to combat illicit drug trafficking even as he appealed for timely and useful information for quick response and proactive measures.

Last month, NDLEA operatives intercepted consignments of cocaine and pharmaceutical opioids concealed in ladies’ sanitary pads.

Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others