Court jails six for cybercrime in Kwara

The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Monday secured the conviction of six persons charged with offences bordering on cybercrime and fraud-related activities.

The convicts, who were prosecuted on separate charges, stood trial before Justice Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court, Ilorin, and Justice Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court, also in Ilorin.

The convicts included Aransiola Stephen, Owoeye Ezekiel, Idris Kayode, Abdulrahmon Abubakar, Rafiu Adisa and Raheem Monsur.

A statement signed by the head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Dele Oyewale, and made available to the journalists in Ilorin on Tuesday, said that their conviction brings to 24 of the 50 suspects comprising 48 students of the Kwara State University and two residents of Malete arrested during a sting operation by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC over offences bordering on Internet fraud also known as yahoo-yahoo on Wednesday, February 21, 2024.

For instance, Aransiola was prosecuted on a one-count charge, which reads:

“That you, Aransiola Oluwaseun Stephen in February 2024  in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction  of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Cindy Watson, a White female, based in United States of America, and in that guise induced one Randy Driskill to send you the sum of $350 (Three Hundred and Fifty Dollars) which you did receive via gift cards thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code Law and Punishable under Section 324 of the same law.”

In the same vein, Owoeye was also tried on a lone count, which reads:

“That you, Owoeye Adeyanju Ezekiel sometime in January, 2024 at Ilorin, Kwara State within the judicial division of the Federal High Court, did fraudulently impersonate one Sara Beauty vide your Instagram account: sara_lyn120 with intent to obtain from one Taylor Johnson and did obtain the sum of $80 (Eighty Dollars) through gift cards thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 22(2)(b)(ii) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention Etc.) Act 2015 and punishable under Section 22 (2)(b) (iv) of the same Act.”

The defendants, who were arraigned on separate charges, pleaded guilty to their respective charges when they were read to them.

Following the “guilty pleas”, Innocent Mbachie, Adebayo Aliyu, Charles Oni, and Rasheedat Alao, who represented the commission in the cases, reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered the statements and items recovered from the defendants at the point of arrest, which were admitted in evidence.

The justices, having considered the facts placed before the courts and the admittance of guilt by the defendants, found them guilty and accordingly sentenced them to various jail terms.

The courts also ordered that the phones and laptops used as instrumentality of the crime by the convicts and the money brought by them as restitution be forfeited to the Federal Government.