Police operatives from Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos, have arrested two suspects allegedly specializing in forging certificates from various international universities and defrauding unsuspecting victims online.
The suspects, Elvis Osakpolo Edokpain, 23, and Kelly Osas Endgieen, 24, were accused of amassing wealth through fraudulent activities, using the proceeds to acquire luxury vehicles and build mansions across the country.
According to reports, the suspects attempted to bribe detectives with N66 million to evade prosecution.
The investigative team, acting on instructions from the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, Adegoke Fayoade, played along to secure the bribe as evidence.
Their arrest was initiated after a tip-off to the Anti-Corruption Unit of the command revealed a syndicate engaged in forging foreign academic certificates.
The police are continuing investigations into the suspects’ activities to uncover the extent of their operations and other potential accomplices.
The unit, acting on orders from Fayoade, laid ambush on the suspects who were said to have been out of the country at the time.
Acting on credible intelligence, detectives were said to have stormed the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, from where they trailed the suspects to a hotel at Osapa-London in Lekki.
It was gathered that the young men soon got a wind that police were after them and made to flee the hotel but were arrested at the bus stop with their luggage.
Sources alleged that upon search of their luggage, detectives found a certificate from Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis Osakpolo Edokpiain, while a student identity card from Academic City College was also recovered from Kenny Osas.
Further search revealed a transcript of an academic record from Blue Crest University belonging to Elvis Osapolo. Going through the search again, detectives discovered a letter of English proficiency from the said college and a letter of recommendation from the same Blue Crest College.
Reports said that upon interrogation, the suspects made useful statements to the police and confessed that they never got any admission into the school, and that they procured the degree certificate through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.
The suspects further stated that their goal was to get Ghanaian resident permits, as students which they got.
Police sources further disclosed that the suspects confessed that they were made to pay 15,000 Ghana cedis for the certificate (N1.5 million) and 5,000 Ghana cedis for the resident permit (N500,000). They reportedly paid a total of 26,000 Ghana cedis to procure the documents.
On further interrogation, they said that they were doing it to evade arrest in Ghana since they don’t have any means of livelihood.
According to the suspects in their confessional statements, whenever police intercepted them, they showed their passports that they were students and had no means of livelihood in that country.
They further confessed to the police that they were into online romance scams and the provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions through “Facebook bombing”.
The suspects said: “We meet people online and present ourselves as American soldiers by the name Captain Donald Rowe, whom we are impersonating on Instagram. He is a captain of the United States of America and is currently on a peacekeeping mission in Syria.
“While we are engaging our victims, we will tell them that there are goods in Syria that if they are interested in buying, they should pay money and we will send the goods to you. We will show them pictures of good materials in Syria.
”After they make the payment, we use our blockchain wallets to collect the money or foreign bank accounts which at last are being credited to our Nigerian accounts. We have our partners in the UK, South Africa, and other countries and most of our victims are from Japan, Denmark, and China.”
Sources said that the police have written to the Ghanaian High Commission to get more information about the result and their alleged accomplices in Ghana said to be spearheading the fraud.
They have also spread their dragnet through the International Police, Interpol, to round up their foreign partners.
The suspects who claimed they were only able to attend secondary schools in Benin City lamented the fate that befell them stating that it was poverty and the need to make ends meet that drove them into fraud.
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