Teenager arrested at US embassy with fake visa documents

A sixty-five-year-old man, Ogoamaka Chukwuemeka, is on the run after his teenage son, Robert Chukwuemeka Ogoamaka (17), was arrested on the premises of the US embassy in Lagos for being in possession of fake visa documents.

Also on the run are two members of a syndicate who deceive visa applicants under the guise that they can help them obtain a US visa.

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The 17-year-old visa applicant allegedly approached the US consulate in Lagos with documents seeking to obtain an American passport.

As at the time of his arrest, the suspect was in possession of documents that were all found to be fake.

The police at the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) said the teenager was arrested after the Consulate General of the US wrote a petition dated July 22, 2021, that the suspect who claimed to be Robert Chukwuemeka Ogoamaka, with Nigerian passport number A11796306 submitted an application for US passport at the Lagos office of the US embassy.

The SFU spokesman, Eyitayo Johnson, who confirmed the incident, said an investigation by operatives of the diplomatic section of the unit, in collaboration with the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) at the US consulate, discovered that the suspect provided a statement of consent that bore several anomalies.

Johnson said some of the anomalies identified include a fake US Military Identification Card, notary stamp which was confirmed to be fake by the Texas Secretary of State’s Notary database. Colorado birth certificate which was confirmed to be fake by the Colorado office of the state registrar or vital statistics and fake affidavit for loss of passport, police report and Park Place Elementary School Certificate.

He said the suspect confessed to the offences and further stated that the forged documents were “provided” to him by two visa agents whose services were paid for by his father, Ogoamaka Chukwuemeka.