Court Jails Six For Cyber Crime In Kwara

Two courts in Ilorin have sentenced six individuals found guilty of internet fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to prison terms.

The Ilorin Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Monday, October 14, 2024, secured the conviction of the six persons before Justices Sulaiman Akanbi and Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin.

The convicts are Idris Muhammed, Ismail Temitope Mustapha, Oyekola Odunayo, Anthony Slyvester Stephen, Timilehin Adeniyi and Olayiwola Ayomide Abdulmalik.

Justice Akanbi jailed Idris, Ismail, Oyekola and Anthony, while the duo of Timilehin and Olayiwola were convicted by Justice Yusuf.

The charge against Idris reads, “That you, IDRIS MUHAMMED, on or about the 13th day of July 2024 to the 13th of August 2024 in Ilorin within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Dorthy Onanewlevel Palmer and fraudulently deceived one Lavergne Adriana Racheal to send $600 (six hundred dollars) to you via cash app and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.”

On the part of Ismail, the charge sheet reads, “That you, Ismail Temitope Mustapha (Alias: Myre Roddy) sometime between the years 2022 and 2023 within the judicial division of the High Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Myre Roddy via Tik Tok account @roddy0s3 and induced one Ron Woldron to part with the gross sum of $500 (five hundred dollars) via Apple gift cards; and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the Penal Code.”

The defendants pleaded guilty to their respective charges, and upon their pleas, prosecution counsels Andrew Akoja and Victoria Igodo tendered the statements of the defendants, items recovered from them at the point of arrest, and monies that they benefited from the illegal activities, which the court admitted in evidence.

Consequently, Justice Akanbi sentenced Idris to two years imprisonment with an option of N100,000 fine and ordered the forfeiture of his iphone 13 and the sum of $300 US dollars, which he raised as restitution to the Federal Government.

The court sentenced Ismail to one year imprisonment with an option of a fine of N100,000 and ordered the forfeiture of his iPhone 11 Promax and $300 USD to the Federal Government.

Oyekola also bagged one year imprisonment on count one with an option of N100,000, two years imprisonment on count two with an option of N200,000, and two weeks community service on count three with a fine of N50,000.

The trial judge also ordered that the sum of $300 and N34,900 recovered from him be forfeited to the Federal government.

Similarly, the court sentenced Anthony to one year imprisonment with an option of a N50,000 fine and ordered that the iPhone 12 and the sum of $25 US dollars from which he benefited from the unlawful activities be forfeited to the Federal Government.

In a similar development, Justice Yusuf sentenced the duo of Timilehin and Olayiwola to six months imprisonment with an option of a N200,000 fine each.

The convicts’ phones and the monies they brought as restitution were forfeited to the Federal Government, according to a statement by the Head, Media and Publicity of the commission, Dele Oyewale on Wednesday.