EFCC arrests own personnel over theft of case file

Arraigns Ekiti varsity student for Internet fraud
The Borno State zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested two of its personnel along with a girlfriend in Maiduguri.

The suspects are: Detective Assistant Habila Dungji Buba, his girlfriend, Keron Ayuba Lapips, an undergraduate of the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID) and Bashir Muhammad, a police sergeant deployed to the EFCC office.

Zonal Head, Aliyu Ado Aliyu, disclosed this yesterday in Maiduguri, while briefing journalists on Muhammad’s arrest over alleged theft of a case file in an attempt to scuttle justice in court.

He said the suspects are currently at the EFCC detention facility awaiting prosecution after investigation.

He added that the zonal office has secured two convictions and recovered several items this January, saying: “Internal checks have also been weeding out the bad eggs within the Commission’s personnel and our supporting staff.”

Narrating how the suspects were arrested, Aliyu said: “On Friday, January 19, 2017, we got information from a suspect under investigation that someone posing as a staff of the EFCC intimated him on phone about a case under investigation involving him.

“The alleged imposter promised to avail him with the original case file on condition for payment of a stated amount of money.

“The commission then detailed a team of operatives to investigate the matter. During investigation, the suspects were arrested while trying to make an exchange of the said case file reported in the matter.”

Meanwhile, the Ibadan zonal office of the anti-graft agency has arrested a suspected Internet scammer, Ilesanmi Babatunde Yemi, 31, a final year Accounting student of the Ekiti State University for alleged Internet fraud.

Babatunde, who poses on the internet as an American Army Officer by the name ‘Dennis Martinez’ allegedly serving in Libya engages in internet love and romance scams.

He engages unsuspecting ladies on the Internet in a dating scam through which he fleeces them of their money.

Last of his victims were Sandra Simundza and Lily F, both in Australia, from whom he obtained $500 in different tranches.

The commission said it gathered from intelligence reports that Babatunde lives ostentatious life without a defined job.

He confessed that he had been engaged in Internet scam in the last four years from which he sustained his flamboyant lifestyle and bought himself a 2005 Lexus car with registration number Lagos MUS 404 DX.

He will be arraigned in court soon.