Operatives of the Nigeria Police Force, Airport Command, have arrested a 20-year-old man, Essien Emmanuel Akpama, over his alleged involvement in an international romance and celebrity fraud estimated at over ₦1 billion.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Airport Police Command, Mohammed Adeola, said the suspect was apprehended on January 5, 2026, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, while attempting to board a flight out of the country.
Adeola said Akpama was arrested after months of intelligence-driven surveillance based on information linking him to transnational online fraud and attempts to evade arrest by fleeing Nigeria.
According to him, the suspect previously resided in Calabar, Cross River State, before relocating to Lagos on February 23, 2024, where he allegedly coordinated several fraudulent operations targeting victims in the United States of America (USA).
The police disclosed that in one of the cases under investigation, a 47-year-old American woman was defrauded of $1 million under the guise of purchasing property in Florida for an orphanage.
Adeola said the funds were solicited through a cryptocurrency scheme known as “BullRun 2.0,” formerly called “4 Way Mirror Money.”
Further investigations revealed that the suspect also defrauded a 70-year-old female victim in the United States of ₦25.7 million, equivalent to about $18,000, through the purchase of gift cards, high-end mobile phones and computer equipment shipped to Nigeria at his direction.
Items recovered in connection with the case include a MacBook Pro 14-inch, an iPhone 17 Pro Max, two Google Pixel 10 Pro XL phones and one Google Pixel 10 Pro, valued at over ₦8.1 million.
The police explained that Akpama allegedly posed as a 60-year-old orthopedic surgeon attached to the United Nations (UN) in Nigeria, claiming the devices were required for secure communication with his victims.
The statement also quoted the Commissioner of Police, Airport Police Command, Olufunke Ogunbode, as saying that the command would not allow Nigerian airports to be used as escape routes by criminal suspects.
She reiterated the command’s commitment to intelligence-led operations to curb transnational crimes and protect the integrity of Nigeria’s aviation environment.
The case has been transferred to the Nigeria Police Force Special Fraud Unit (NPF-SFU) for further investigation, while the suspect is expected to be arraigned in court upon the conclusion of the probe.
