By OLA MUDOPE, Osogbo –
The Ibadan Zonal Command of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Wednesday said its operatives have arrested 69 persons suspected to be internet fraudsters in Ile-Ife, Osun.
The Commission’s spokesman, Dele Oyewale, said in a statement on Wednesday that the suspects were arrested earlier on Wednesday at Oduduwa Estate area of Ile-Ife.
Mr. Oyewale said their arrest followed “actionable intelligence on their suspected involvement in fraudulent internet-related activities”.
He noted that credible intelligence linked the Oduduwa Estate with activities of suspected Internet fraudsters.
The EFCC spokesman, further, listed the items recovered from the suspects to include exotic cars, 190 mobile phones and 40 laptops, among others.
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“The suspects have made useful statements to the EFCC and will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that, earlier, there were reports that no fewer than 70 students of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) in Ile-Ife were arrested by EFCC officials.
They were reported to have been arrested during a midnight raid on off-campus hostels located at the Oduduwa Estate in Ile-Ife in the early hours of Wednesday.
This development had ostensibly led to a large group of the university’s students storming the Ibadan Zonal Command office to protest the arrest of their colleagues by the agency’s operatives.
The students, who arrived the EFCC office in six buses, were said to have stormed the commission’s office to secure the release of their arrested colleagues.
They were led by some leaders of the institution’s Students Union Government (SUG).
However, the OAU management had said there had not been any communication between the EFCC and the institution informing it about or accusing any of its students of financial crime.
It however assured that investigation into the reported arrest of the students was ongoing, and it could not be confirmed if truly those arrested were OAU students or not.
“The management is still making enquiry to know if those arrested by EFCC are our students and their actual number.
“I can assure that once we have any information or breakthrough on the identities of those arrested, the management will meet and make a statement,” Mr Olanrewaju Abiodun, OAU’s Public Relations Officer, had said.
EFCC Chairman, Mr Ola Olukoyede
EFCC Bans Sting Operations at Night
Meanwhile, in line with the newly-reviewed procedures on arrest and bail of suspects by the EFCC, the Executive Chairman of the Commission, Mr. Ola Olukoyede has directed that sting operations at night time be stopped in all the Commands of the EFCC.
Mr. Olukoyede gave the directive in a statement issued by the Commission’s spokesman in Abuja on Wednesday.
The directives was in reaction to the arrest of 69 suspected internet fraudsters by operatives of the Ibadan Zonal of the Commission in Ile-Ife, Osun State.
“Already, many of the suspects duly profiled by the Command have been released, while profiling of suspects yet un-released will be completed, without further delay.
“The Commission wishes to assure the public that it will not relent in its adherence to the rule of law, in the exercise of its mandate’, the statement said.
(With additional report from.NAN)
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