Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad have arrested a fake Chief Superintendent of Customs, who has milked unsuspecting Nigerians millions of naira in bogus customs auction sales, including an Assistant Director of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control.
The suspect, Ramoni Raji, 63, alias Yakubu Lawal, was arrested after the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, received a petition from one Mrs. Uche, alleging that Raji swindled her of N800,000 posing as a customs officer.
Uche said Raji promised to procure her customs auction vehicles.
Raji had once been arrested in 2013 for impersonation.
He apparently didn’t learn any lesson from that arrest.
Immediately he was released, he went back to his old ways.
He said: “I’ve duped many people.
“In Ilorin, I promised to give about 600 bags of rice for N3.5 million to a victim, but I didn’t.
“In Abuja, I did a scam of N4.2 million.
“I duped an Assistant Director of Operations, NAFDAC by promising a car I didn’t supply.
“The Director gave me N1.4 million.”
Raji, who is married to three wives and has nine kids, used to wear two different ranks.
Police said he used to go by the name Shitu Musa whenever he wears the rank of a Chief Superintendent of Customs and Yakubu Lawal Yoruba whenever he wears the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Customs.
Raji was arrested on February 17, 2015 in an operation led by the Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police.
The suspect was said to have mentioned Usman Ibrahim, alias Galadima, and others.
They had since been arrested.
The police said: “Raji used to tell his victims that he is the customs officer in charge of auctioning. He used to take his victims to Apapa wharf and Tin Can Island Ports to show them goods and vehicles allegedly meant for auctioning. He and his gang duped Mrs. Uche, a business woman to the tune of N800, 000:00 with a promise to give her Toyota Highlander Jeep. The woman paid the money through the First bank account of a member of the gang called Galadima.”
Raji said: “I’m not a customs officer. I decided on my own to buy customs uniform and use it for business. I bought the uniform at Customs Training School, Ikeja. I bought it from Customs’ tailor for N5,000 with all the kits. The tailor didn’t know I was a fraud. I’d once been arrested by policemen in Zone II, Onikan in 2013 for similar offence. I was released on bail in January 5, 2013. The police didn’t take me to court because court couldn’t sit.”
Raji said he started working as fraudster by first trying his hands in a business called ‘wash- wash dollar business.’
In the business, he and his gang would bring a pile of papers cut to dollar size and would promise a victim that would wash all the papers and turn them into dollars.
He explained that he would tell the victim to bring N250,000 so the gang would wash it for him to make it N1.2 million.
He said he left the business after people stopped falling for the prank.
“When the business waned, I changed to fake customs officer,” he said.
Raji said that he used to frequent customs’ restaurant at Ikeja to portray that he was a genuine officer and to know how the officers carry out their work.
He said: “It was from there I learnt what customs do. I bought the DSC uniform and rank in 2013. I chose that rank because people show it a lot of respect.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, who confirmed the arrest, said Raji posed as a Custom officer, while Adekunle Thomas and Galadima used to pose as his aids.
Nwosu said: “Thomas used to pose as the suspect’s driver, while Galadima, whose name is Ibrahim, used to provide bank account where victims would lodge in money.”
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