Two suspected international fraudsters have been arrested by the Zone-2 Police Command in Lagos for allegedly specializing in forging foreign certificates in Lagos and Ghana.
The suspects, Elvis (23) and Kelly (24) attempted to bribe the police with N66 million in exchange for their release, but the offer was rejected by the police.
The Assistant Inspector General (AIG) in charge of the Zone-2 Police Command, Adegoke Fayaode, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Fayaode revealed that the suspects offered the bribe to secure their freedom, prompting him to instruct his team to engage with the suspects while maintaining a strategic approach. Eventually, the suspects paid the N66 million, which was collected by the detectives and retained as evidence.
He also stated that this was not the first time Zone-2 operatives had turned down a bribe. In November, they had previously rejected an even larger bribe of N174 million from a different suspect.
How the arrest unfolded
The arrest came when detectives at the Anti-Corruption Unit received credible information from Nigerians in the diaspora about a group of individuals specializing in the forgery of foreign certificates.
- Acting on this tip, Fayaode instructed his team to investigate and apprehend the suspects. The detectives traced the suspects to a five-star hotel in Osapa-London, Lekki, after monitoring their activities. The suspects were arrested at a bus stop while attempting to escape.
- Fayaode explained that Elvis and Kelly were involved in forging certificates from various international institutions, including African universities, and defrauding unsuspecting victims online.
- The suspects used the proceeds from their fraudulent activities to acquire exotic cars and build mansions across the country.
During the search of their luggage, police recovered several forged documents, including
- A certificate from Blue Crest College in Ghana
- A student identity card from Academic City College
- A transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University
These documents were linked to Elvis and Kelly, who later confessed to purchasing the forged documents through the help of a Nigerian woman residing in Ghana.
The suspects revealed that their primary motive for acquiring these forged documents was to obtain Ghanaian residency permits, which they used to pose as students at Academic City University admitting that they had never been admitted to the institution.
The suspects paid a total of 26,000 Ghana Cedis for the documents, claiming they needed them to avoid arrest in Ghana, as they had no legitimate means of livelihood.
Other fraudulent activities
Fayaode further stated that the suspects were also involved in an online romance scam and provided foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions, a practice they referred to as “Facebook bombing.”
- They impersonated an American soldier named Captain Donald Rowe, claiming to be serving in Syria, to deceive and defraud innocent individuals on Instagram.
- The Nigerian Police have reached out to the Ghanaian embassy to gather more information about the suspects’ operations and their foreign accomplices.
The police have also enlisted the help of Interpol to track down the international partners involved in the fraud.