Operatives of the police in Zone 2, consisting of Lagos and Ogun states, have nabbed a trailer mechanic who allegedly specialised in transferring funds from stolen Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), bank-linked and SIM cards in Lagos.
The zonal command spokesperson, SP Hauwa Idris Adamu, in a statement signed and made available to journalists said upon intelligence received by the Assistant Inspector General of Police Zone 2 Command, AIG Ari Mohammed Ali, there was a syndicate of young Nigerians who specialise in stealing phones from members of the public and further transferring monies from their BVN/Bank linked SIM cards.
He said the AIG then detailed operatives of the Zonal Enquiry Bureau to discreetly investigate and apprehend the syndicate.
She said based on the directive of the AIG, one Ogbonnaya Junior Duru was arrested after serious efforts had been made.
“Ogbonnaya Junior Duru’ who is from Orlu local government area of Imo state is a trailer mechanic by profession and he has his workshop along Trinity Area of Berger Cement, Apapa Lagos.
“When asked about his involvement in the alleged crime; he confessed to being introduced to the criminal act by his friend, one Kareem who lives in Ajegunle area of Apapa, Lagos, in the year 2019 and he has been in the business of criminality since then,” said Hawa.
She said: “His modus operandi was when other members of the syndicate ,Praise; Emmanuel and Osaron whose areas of specialisation is to steal mobile phones from members of the public either by pick-pockets or one-chance robbery and other means have stolen the phones, they bring the SIM cards to Ogbonnaya Junior Duru, who finds out which bank are the sim cards linked to and check the account balance, reset the USSD pin and transfer funds from the owner’s account to accounts provided by a member of the syndicate, one Joshua (a.k.a. ALERT) currently at large who takes 20 per cent of the proceeds and returns 80 per cent either in cash or transfer to Ogbonnaya Junior Duru who takes 40 per cent of the proceeds and delivers 40 per cent to whoever brings the BVN/Bank linked SIM card.”
She added that the suspect confessed that there are other suspects who consult him from Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states and later send him consultation fees and that the least he has transferred from an account is N100, 000, while the maximum he has transferred is N1.4 million.
Credit: Leadership
