POLICE ARREST 26-YEAR OLD CYBER FRAUD KINGPIN

LUCKY LAWAL

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a 26 year-old cyber fraud kingpin, Samuel Olowobola Gboyega at 48, Allen Avenue, Ikeja.

His arrest followed a petition addressed to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, Edgal Imohimi, by one Antonio Kaplanis of the Embassy of Greece, Abuja.

In the petition Antonio alleged that the suspect had been claiming and posing as an employee of the Embassy of Greece and had fraudulently obtained huge sums of money from unsuspecting Nigerians seeking visa to travel to Europe by promising to make visa procurement easy for them.

On getting the information, the Lagos CP deployed crack detectives from the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) to fish out the culprit and his accomplices. The detectives swung into action immediately following the order. They were able to locate the suspect’s hideout and carried out a sting operation on him.

During the operation, some Nigerian passports, laptops and other visa related documents were recovered from the suspect’s operational base. Further scrutiny of the laptop confirmed that there were documents in the notepad that had different embassy visas and their respective price tags. It was also seen that the said Samuel Olowobola Gboyega had made false presentations through publications on his website: www.kukutravels.com attaching the name of Embassy of Greece to it.

The CP noted with sadness that the activities of the young man had dented the image of the nation and greatly embarrassed the Embassy of Greece in Nigeria. He warned people behind this kind of crime to have a rethink or have the law to contend with.

Meanwhile, the suspect has been charged to court for forgery, impersonation and fraud.