Five members of a 15-man syndicate which specialise in dollar counterfeiting and defrauding of unsuspecting members of the public were yesterday arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS, attached to the Lagos State Police Command.
The suspects identified as Ade Oladele, 32, Friday Philip,33, Israel Ibeh, 35, Oyewole Thompson, 30, and 31-year-old Onyegbuchi Godwin were rounded up in Oko Baba Sule and Wilma Bridge around Olodi, Apapa area of the state.
The gang led by their gang leader, Toronto, were said to have defrauded one Chioma Anozie of N210, 000 under the pretext of supplying her phones and laptops.
It was learnt that the a member of the syndicate identified as Oyewole Thompson, was alleged to have met the victim in Mile 2 area of the state pretending to be a foreigner looking for a marketer to help sell off a huge consignment of mobile phones and laptops.
Narrating how she was defrauded by the syndicate, Anozie said, “They told me to bring money. I paid them N210, 000.00 and thereafter I was asked to bring three live chickens in place of a newly born child’s head, a roll of white handkerchiefs and traditional soap for money making rituals.”
Another leader of the gang, Oyewole Thompson while confessing to the crime said,” I was a clearing and forwarding agent before I joined this gang. I was introduced to this business by Sunny T. We wash money. We lie to people that we are foreigners.
“Our Chairman is Toronto, while other members of the gang are Emeka, Ifeanyi, Bobo, Onyinbo, they are still at large.”
The police recovered several denominations of fake US dollars and four mobile phones on the suspects.
