COURT JAILS 17 CHINESE NATIONALS FOR INTERNET FRAUD AND CYBERCRIME IN LAGOS
The Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, has sentenced seventeen Chinese nationals to one-year imprisonment for internet fraud and cyberterrorism.
The Lagos Zonal Directorate-Two of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, arraigned the suspects before Justices D.E. OSIAGOR and D.I. DIPEOLU on separate one-count charge each.
The convicts were among seven hundred and ninety-two suspects involved in cryptocurrency scam, who were arrested following a mass raid by the EFCC on December 19, 2024, code-named ‘Eagle Flush Operation’.
EFCC spokesman, DELE OYEWALE, said the suspects dumped their initial “not guilty” to plead guilty when the matter came up again for consideration yesterday.
In their judgments, Justices OSIAGOR and DIPEOLU awarded a fine of One Million Naira against each of the convict in place of one-year imprisonment and ordered the Comptroller General of Immigration to ensure that they are deported to their country of origin within seven days.
The judges further ordered that the mobile phones, computers, and routers seized from the convicts at the time of their arrest are forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.