Operatives of the police Zonal Monitoring Unit have arrested five persons, who allegedly specialise in stealing funds from other people’s accounts through their SIM cards.
Those arrested are: Daniel Asigbe, Ikechukwu Aigbe, Frank Opara, Seun Dairo and Goodness Ndukwe, the only female member of the alleged syndicate.
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The arrest of the suspects followed that of 25-year-old Asigbe, who the police alleged had stolen a Samsung X9 phone from a barber’s shop on June 20, 2020 at Lekki, Lagos.
The Zonal Public Relations Officer, Zone 2 Command, Deputy Superintendent of Police Hauwa Idris Adamu, said in a statement she issued on Thursday that Asigbe then removed the SIM card from the phone and gave it to Aigbe, who “fraudulently got the owner’s BVN and sent it to one Yele,” a male, said to be currently at large.
Adamu added that Yele generated the account owner’s transfer PIN and gave it to Aigbe, who allegedly used it to transfer the sum of N2.3 million from the owner’s bank account to the bank account of the third suspect, Dairo.
“Ikechukwu purchased N20,000 worth of airtime from the account.
“Meanwhile, Seun had given his ATM card to another suspect, Frank Opara, 21, apparently for another deal.
“Members of the public are hereby advised to pay necessary attention to this in case of loss of their mobile phones or other valuables,” the police spokesperson added.
Adamu said the suspects would be charged to court after completion of investigation.