The British High Commission has reported some Nigerians to the Special Fraud Unit, Milverton, Ikoyi, Lagos State over visa racketeering.
Spokesperson for the SFU, DSP Ngozi Isintume-Agu explained that the suspects were arrested after SFU received a petition from British High Commission.
The petitioner reported that one Jude Oseiwe Esebanmhen, 26, with Nigerian passport No. A04701778, applied for a six months visit visa on June, 6, 2013, but the visa application was rejected.
The British High Commission further stated that the suspect later applied for a Spanish visa with a fake UK Entry Clearance Visa on his passport in an attempt to use deception to obtain the visa, but the visa was checked by a trained forgery officer and was discovered to be forged.
According to Isintume-Agu, Esebanmhen, who is a graduate of Amnrose Allie University, was arrested and had since allegedly confessed to the crime.
Isintume-Agu said: “He admitted that he met a travelling agent who promised to assist him to procure a Spanish visa. The Agent introduced him to one Mr. Olawole who unknown to him forged the document and stamped on the passport. He also stated that the passport was submitted to the Spanish Embassy and he was later called by the Embassy for collection of his visa and subsequently was arrested.”
The second suspect is one Charles Abayomi Sanusi, 40, a concrete fabricator from Osun State.
According to Sanusi, he was not an appointed agent but assists prospective travelers to procure visa to the UK, Spain, France and other documents such as hotel reservation, insurance certificate, ticket, invitation letters, employment documents and statements of account.
He confessed that he procured the fake documents for the principal suspects.
“They faked documents which include letter of appointment, statement of account, fake visa, fake arrival and departure stamps of Benin Republic, Cote d’Voire, Togo, Ghana and UK,” said Isintume-Agu.
“He further stated that all the fake documents were procured through the assistance of one Alhaji Oyekanmi who normally meets with him at CMS. He also stated that he uses his friend’s office at Shogunle for visa consultancy and had procured for three other applicants and had never worked in an Embassy in his life. He admitted that he collected the sum of N150, 000.00 for the service.”
Sanusi stated that he has travelled to the UK on several occasions but was convicted for five months for credit card fraud and was later deported to Lagos, Nigeria in 2008.
Esebanmhen admitted that he masterminded the whole crime through one Alhaji Oyekanmi who is still at large.
Investigation is ongoing as effort is being intensified to arrest the fleeing suspect.
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