Notorious Nigerian fraudsters who targeted the powerful with a sea of threats and demands have been arrested in Abuja, the police said in a statement on Wednesday.
The suspected fraudsters were arrested on August 1, the police said, after tracking and trailing them.
The operation was carried out by Police’s operatives attached to the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Abuja following many complaints from “well-meaning individuals and highly placed personalities in Abuja”, said a spokesman of the Nigerian police force said.
The suspected fraudsters paraded by the police in August 2016
The syndicate, the police said, specialised in sending text messages to influential Nigerians and calling other highly placed individuals such as Ministers, Senators, Governors, Captains of industries on the phone “demanding huge sums of money or else the victims should await a grievous consequences if they failed to comply”.
“Abdulrahman Shaibu, 21-years old, who is the leader of the gang was arrested during a rigorous and painstaking investigation into the crime. His arrest led to the arrest of Isiaku Maheed Zanbuk ‘Male” 47-yrs and Hassan Haruna ‘Male’ 35-yrs who are also key members of the syndicate,” said police spokesman Don Awunah.
Mr. Awunah said the three suspects “confessed to the crime and explained to the investigators various roles played by each of them in the perpetration of this criminal act and other related crimes they have committed in the past”.
“Exhibits recovered from their possession included phone containing the SIM card /number used to threaten the complainant; copies of letters of threat to life addressed to highly placed Nigerians; Copies of letters of fraud addressed to well-meaning individuals and cooperate bodies soliciting for monetary assistance for non-existing tragedies and projects and list of names and phone numbers /contact of hundreds of important personalities in public and private sectors in Nigeria. They will be arraigned in Court on completion of investigation,” the police said.