Court jails five over internet fraud in Ilorin

The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin on Friday sentenced five persons to various jail terms over offences bordering on internet-related fraud.

The Ilorin Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission secured the convictions of the offenders.

The convicts are Ololade Olabisi and Segun Samson from Lagos, Issa Shamsudeen and Babatunde Saheed from Kwara and Abdulmatin Akibu from Oyo.

Delivering judgment, Justice Muhammed Sani said that the prosecutor has established a case against the defendants and found them guilty.

The judge sentenced the defendants to various jail terms, ranging from six months to one year, with options of fine.

The judge also ordered that all items used as instruments to commit the crime, which included phones and laptops, as well as money raised as restitution, be forfeited to the Federal Government.

The defendants pleaded guilty to the separate charges preferred against them by the anti-graft agency.

Upon their pleas, Innocent Mbachie, Aliyu Adebayo and Andrew Akoja reviewed the facts of the case and tendered all the exhibits, which were admitted as evidence against the defendants.

The prosecuting counsel urged the court to consider the facts and circumstances of the case, the guilty pleas by the defendants, their extrajudicial statements and convict them as charged.