EFCC nabs suspect on FBI wanted list involved in N1.4b transactions, N70m investment

The Economic and Financial Crime Commission, Sokoto Zonal Office in collaboration with the Federal Bureau of Investigation recorded a major breakthrough with the arrest on August 29, 2019 of Emmanuel Adedeji Oluwatosin, who is on the wanted list of the FBI.
The Zonal Head, Abdullahi Lawal, while parading the suspect in Sokoto on Thursday, explained that he was arrested in Kaduna.
Items recovered from Oluwatosin’s residence included two cars: Mercedes Benz E550, Mercedes Benz C450; an iPhone; laptops, modem; and SIM cards.
Lawal added that the suspect and his accomplices both in Nigeria and overseas acquired Retirement Account Information and Personally Identifiable Information of multiple persons, which they fraudulently used to wire funds into newly created business bank accounts tied to the fraudulently created business.
The proceeds were then converted into crypto currency.
He said preliminary investigation had so far revealed that about N1,437,889,157.15 passed through the suspect’s accounts and the commission has also traced N70 million he invested somewhere.
He said Efforts are on to recover the money.
In a related development, Lawal said the Commission has arrested a wanted suspect, Muzakkir Muhammad, through a sister agency, in connection with an alleged case of obtaining money under false pretenses and production of fake currencies.
He said the suspect was reported by one of his victims, Abdullahi Ibrahim, after he had defrauded another victim, Samaila Sani, a Bureau de Change operator, of $33,850.
He said: “Meanwhile, the first complainant, Ibrahim, alleged that Muzakkri Muhammad collected the sum of N2,350,000 from him on the pretext of producing the $100,000 for him, which he has neither produced nor refunded the Naira equivalent given to him.
“However, a search was conducted at his house and several incriminating items, which the suspect used in luring and defrauding his victims, were recovered.
“His method is to make his victims believe that he possess some form of supernatural abilities of communicating with spirits, while in the actual sense they are mere tricks which he uses to deprive them of their hard earnings.”
Also paraded were four Sokoto local government officials who defrauded civil servants on the payroll of the State Universal Basic Education Board by deducting irregular amount of monies from their salaries since 2013.
The Suspects are: Ishaka Abdullahi (Education Secretary), Abdullahi Idris (Deputy Education Secretary), Abdullahi Dadi (Cashier) and Idris Wamabai (Accountant).
The suspects would soon be charged to court, Lawal said.