Police arrest six over ₦7.7bn telecom cyber fraud
The Nigeria Police Force has uncovered a ₦7.7 billion cyber-enabled telecommunications fraud. Six suspects were arrested for allegedly diverting airtime and data resources from a telecom company. Benjamin Hundeyin stated that the National Cybercrime Centre led the operation after a petition from the affected company. The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Adeolu Egbetokun, praised the officers for their professionalism.
What happened
- Police uncovered suspicious and unauthorised activities within a telecom company’s billing and payments infrastructure.
- Investigations found that internal staff login credentials had been compromised, allowing unlawful access to core systems.
- The syndicate allegedly diverted airtime and data resources, causing an estimated loss of over ₦7.7 billion.
- Six suspects—Ahmad Bala, Karibu Mohammed Shehu, Umar Habib, Obinna Ananaba, Ibrahim Shehu, and Masa’ud Sa’ad—were arrested.
- Recovered items include houses, mini-plazas, retail outlets, over 400 laptops, 1,000 mobile phones, a Toyota RAV4, and substantial sums of money traced to the suspects’ accounts.
