Police fraud unit arrests 20 visa racketeers in Lagos

The Police Special Fraud Unit (PSFU) says it has arrested over 20 suspects who specialised in counterfeiting entry visas of some foreign countries.

Spokesman for the PSFU, Audi Lawal, said in a statement on Saturday in Lagos that the visa racketeers were arrested at several embassies of the foreign countries in Lagos.

The police spokesmanspokesman said that the suspects specialised in forgery of visa processing documents such as passports, bank statements, company letterheads and immigration stamps of several overseas countries.

Lawal said that all the supects confesssed to have committed the crimes and were charged to court for prosecution to serve as deterrent to others involved in such illegal activities.

“The Polıce Special Fraud Unit in its effort to discourage members of the public from patronising racketeers and false document makers, recently busted a cartel which specialises in counterfeiting.

“This cartel specialised in UK, Canada and Shengen visas, Nigerian passports, bank statements, various countries’ immigration stamps and letter of introduction from corporate organisations,” Lawal said.

The PSFU spokesman advised visa applicants against patronising agents using fake travel documents for processing visa at embassies in Nigeria.

He urged visa applicants to always access embassies and high commissions information through their official websites on visa application procedures.