Man jailed 3 years over ATM fraud

Justice Farouq Lawan of the High Court in the northern Nigerian state of Kano on Thursday 31 January sentenced one Auwalu Ibrahim to three years imprisonment with the option of N250,000 fine for allegedly stealing the sum of N4,524,000 (Four Million, Five Hundred and Twenty Four Thousand Naira Only) between May 30, 2010 and February 25, 2011 in a debit card fraud.

The accused person pleaded guilty to the one count charge preferred against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The charge read: “that you Auwalu Ibrahim, between 30th May 2010 to 25th February 2011 committed a theft of N4,524,000 using United Bank For Africa ATM card thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 286 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 287 of Penal Code”.

The defence counsel, Mas’ud Aliyu pleaded with the judge to tamper justice with mercy considering the fact that his client had no previous criminal record and did not waste the time of the court.

He further stated that his client had paid back the money he stolen to the EFCC.

The judge convicted and sentenced him accordingly