Justice Nasiru Saminu of a Kano State High Court has convicted and sentenced one Aminu Ishaq to three years imprisonment for retention of proceeds of crime.
He handed down the sentence on Tuesday in the case brought by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
The convict was among six youths that were arrested in Katsina and Kano States for stealing over N15 million from the bank account of a complainant, incidentally a grandmother to one of fraudsters, Almustapha Nasir.
Nasir had been convicted on October 6, 2022 by the same court.
The defendants were arrested following a petition which alleged that Nasir stole the SIM card of his grandmother, shared it with his friends and together they stole over N15 million through bank transfers and Point of Sale withdrawals.
The charge read: “That you, Aminu Ishag sometime in 2021 at Kano within the Jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did retain the possession of the sum of N350, 000.00 (Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira only) which sum you knew formed part of a proceeds of criminal conduct and you thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 17 (a) & (b) of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004.”
The defendant pleaded guilty to the one count charge when it was read to him.
In view of his plea, prosecution counsel, Salihu Sani urged the court to convict him accordingly.
Counsel representing the defendant, Nuriyyah Musa, pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing the defendant.
Justice Saminu convicted and sentenced the defendant to three years imprisonment with option of N100,000 fine.