A Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, has sentenced 18 foreign nationals, including 15 Chinese, two Filipinos, and one Pakistani, to prison on separate charges bordering on cyber-terrorism and internet fraud.

The convictions were secured by the Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) before Justices Chukwujekwu Aneke, Ayokunle Faji, and Yellim Bogoro.

The convicts are Peng Li Huan, Zhang Jin Rong, He Kun, Rachelle Cabalona, Caselyn Pionela, Guo Long Long, Zhang Hua Zhai, Lin Hao Bo, Chen Fusheng, Chen Dong Dong, Wang Gong Lin, Pan Cai Yu, Huang Ren Jian, Zhang Xiao Lei, Khurram Shahzad, Chen Yuan, Wu Yong An and Chen Xin.

One of the charges said that in December 2024, Caselyn Pionela, one of the Filipinos, worked with Nigerian youths to steal people’s identities online and pretend to be foreigners to make money.

The court said the act constituted a violation of both the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (as amended in 2024), and the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022.

One of Pionela’s charges reads: “That you, Caselyn Pionela, sometime in December 2024, in Lagos, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, willfully caused to be accessed, computer systems organized to seriously destabilize and destroy the fundamental economic and social structure of Nigeria when you procured/employed Nigerian youths for identity theft and to hold themselves out as persons of foreign nationality, with the intent to gain financial advantage for yourselves and you thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 18 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, Etc) Act, 2015 (As amended 2024) and Section 2(3)(d) of the Terrorism (Prevention, Prohibition) Act, 2022.”

They all pleaded “guilty” to the charges when they were read to them.

In view of their pleas, the prosecution counsel, Spiff Owede, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, Chinenye Okezie, Ebuka Okongwu, B.M. Isah and Nambam Mutfwang, respectively prayed the court to convict the defendants and also order the forfeiture of all the exhibits recovered from them.

The judges found them guilty of the charges and convicted them accordingly.

The court sentenced each person to one year in prison with the option of paying a fine of N1 million.

The court also ordered the Nigeria Immigration Service to deport them to their home countries within seven days after completing their sentences.

The judge also ordered that the items recovered from them be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The defendants are part of the 792 suspects that EFCC agents have detained on suspicion of cyberterrorism.