Police parade 7 suspects over fraud in Ogun

TRACKING___ Abeokuta
The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun on Thursday paraded seven persons in connection with the fraudulent withdrawal of N1.5 million belonging to butchers operating at the Abiola Way abattoir in Abeokuta, the state capital.

The suspects are Abeeb Sanni, Adewunmi Olanrewaju(phone dealer), Adeosun Olatomiwa, Titilayo Morakinyo, Mayowa Morankiyo, Busayo Adeoti, and Esther Oshin

Ajogun said, the butchers’ money was lodged in the bank account of one Miss Gbemisola Ajimoh, who helps them to take custody of it as they pay regularly into the account through her.

The butchers were said to have entrusted the money in Gbemisola’s care since they could not operate corporate bank account by reason of their illiteracy. Until the alleged scam, she also helps them in the onward transfer of money to cow dealers upon being supplied with cows by the dealers.

He said, “the smooth relationship between Gbemisola and the butchers went awry when she carelessly entrusted her ATM card to Esther Oshin, her friend, who used the opportunity to access the account and found out that it is home to millions of naira”.

“Esther then sought the services of internet fraudsters who broke into the account after obtaining data of the ATM and siphoned N1.5m out of it to purchase expensive handsets from an online mall to avoid the money being traced to them”.

They later took the handsets to the Computer Village, Ikeja, where they sold them at a cheaper price to a phone dealer, Adewunmi Olanrewaju (alleged receiver) but they were all arrested one after the other at different times by detectives when Gbemisola complained at the Adatan Police station that her account had been hacked and money moved out of it fraudulently”.

Ajogun said that all the suspects have confessed to the crime, with each of them explaining their respective conspiratorial roles.

He added that they have refunded N1.2m out of the N1.5million stolen from Gbemisola’s bank account.

“The amount recovered will be withdrawn and treated as exhibit. This is a hurried restitution that will not prevent the suspects from being prosecuted for offences they have committed, including the unwarranted attack on police detectives who went to the Computer Village, Ikea, Lagos to effect the arrest of Adewunmi Olanrewaju,” Ajogun said.

“Having earlier arrested other accomplices, the police, however, visited the Computer Village last Monday 5th October 2020 for the purpose of inviting and interrogating Adewunmi for receiving the goods, but in the process, raised an alarm, mobilized hoodlums that attacked the operatives and consequently injured one of the detectives”.