IGP Idris Ibrahim.
Imo Police operatives have arrested a 22-year-old undergraduate of a university in the state, Nicholas Lambert, and three others, for allegedly defrauding a Dane, Jeanette Brunsma, of €15,000
The Imo state police command said the students had impersonated a United States of America Army sergeant.
Parading Lambert and his accomplices Collins Njoku 22; Bright Chukwuezi, 23; and Chukwuemeka Ononiwu, 27 the state Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, said 11 laptops and 20 phones of different brands were found in their possession.
The CP said the suspects engaged in “advanced fee fraud, otherwise known as yahoo-yahoo to defraud the Dane.”
“After defrauding Brunsma of the €15,000, the suspects made a fresh demand of €1,500.
“The prime suspect, Lambert, met the victim on Facebook, bearing a fake name, Johnson Mills, in order to commit the crime.”
Explaining how the suspects were arrested, Galadanchi said the victim flew into the country and lodged a complaint at the state command headquarters which led to investigations by the police.
He said the victim’s statement was followed with “a digital construction analysis,” which led to the arrest of the suspects within 24 hours.
“The suspects; Nicholas Lambert, aka Johnson Mills of Onumonu Street, Owerri; Collins Njoku of Umudim Umuduruonyeoma, in the Ikeduru Local Governmrnt Area; Bright Chukwuezi of Umudim Umuduruonyeoma and Chukwuemeka Ononiwu also of Umudim Umuduruonyeoma, were arrested on September 3, 2018.
“They were arrested by a combined team of operatives of Scorpion Squad and Monitoring Unit of the command for advanced fee fraud.”
“The main suspect who claimed to be a US Army Sergeant by name Johnson Mills (Nicholas Lambert) serving in Kabul, Afghanistan, and his friends, who claimed to be Red Cross agents, were arrested in Imo State.
“We swooped on them at their hideout in Umuodu Mbieri, in the Mbaitoli LGA after the victim lodged a formal complaint to the police.
“The suspects have made useful statements to the police, confessing to have defrauded Jeanette Brunsma of Ringwey 10,Weiloo, Netherlands, of the sum of €15,000.
“The exhibits recovered from the suspects include 11 laptops and 20 phones of different brands.”
The prime suspect, Lambert, admitted to have committed the crime.