6th October, 2015
AKIN KUPONYI
Special Fraud Unit, (SFU),of Nigeria Police Force, Ikoyi, southwest Ngeria, has arraigned a lady and three men before a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, for allegedly swindling a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, Felix Uyanna, of the sum of N1.8 million, through an e-mail scam.
The four accused persons were arraigned before Justice Muhammed Yunusa on a three-count criminal charge bordering of cybercrime.
The SFU Prosecutor CSP Effiong Asuquo alleged in a charge dated October 2, 2015, and marked FHC/L/402c/2015, filed before the court, that between the month of April and May, 2015, the accused persons hacked into the e-mail account of Adebayo Orefuwa, and used the name to fraudulently obtain the sum of N1.8 million from the retired Assistant Inspector General of Police.
The offences alleged to have been committed by the accused persons are contrary to and punishable under sections 27(1)(b): 22(2)(a), (b)(i)(ii)(iii) and 14(2) of the Cybercrime (Prohibition Prevention etc) Act 2015, and punishable under section 22(2)(b)(iv) of the same law.
The four accused persons pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Following the accused persons’ plea of not guilty, the prosecutor, CSP Asuquo, urged the court to order their remand in prison custody pending their trial.
The lawyer to the accused persons, Mr. Ben Ebechina, while opposing the prosecutor’s remand application, urged the court to admit them to bail in the most liberal term.
Alternatively, he urged the court to remand the accused persons in SFU’s custody.
The presiding Judge, Justice Yunusa Mohammed, while adjourning the case till 19 October, 2015, ordered that the accused persons be remanded in prison custody pending the time their bail applications will be heard.