The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba, has reiterated the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force in sustaining the fight against cybercrimes and other related offences in Nigeria and across the globe.
The IGP made the assertion while applauding the appointment of DCP Uche Ifeanyi Henry, head of Cybercrime Investigation Unit, INTERPOL NCB Abuja, as the Vice Chairman of Africa Heads of Cybercrime Units.
DCP Uche holds a Master’s Degree in Security and Strategic Studies from the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Cybersecurity at the University of Glasgow. He is a certified Ethical Hacker and a Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator, having attended several local and international courses on cyber security. He is equally a member of INTERPOL Cybercrime Advisory Body, Association of Cybercrime Specialists, amongst other professional associations.
The IGP noted that the Nigeria Police Cybercrime Investigation Unit has recorded remarkable successes in dismantling the operations of organized transnational crime syndicates and apprehending perpetrators of cybercrimes. Notable amongst these include the arrest of 2 threat actors, who through an elaborate Business Email Compromise (BEC) scheme, diverted the sum of 2.3million Euro belonging to a German Company to their Nigerian account. The money was for the purchase of face masks and Covid-19 testing kits.
Similarly, the Police apprehended the perpetrators of a BEC scheme which diverted Covid-19 testing kits belonging to a British company and recovered all the goods. Additionally, the Unit was instrumental in the rescue of a 69-year-old American woman who was lured to Nigeria and fleeced of over half a million dollars by threat actors in a romance scam. The Police has equally arrested suspects who specialize in generating and distributing child pornography online through the agency of the Cybercrime Unit.
The Inspector-General of Police has charged the Police Cybercrime Investigation Unit to continually boost its capacity and be ahead of perpetrators of cyber crimes within its jurisdiction. The IGP equally warns all intending cyber criminals, particularly youths, to desist from engaging in criminality but rather to channel their creativity to productive, noble and legal enterprise for the attainment of great and lofty heights in the nation.