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By Christopher Oji
Two suspected fraudsters who allegedly specialised in forging certificates of different international and African Universities have been arrested in Lagos .
The suspects were arrested by operatives of Zone 2 command headquarters, Onikan, Lagos.
The suspects:Elvis Osakpolo Edokpain, 23, and Kelly Osas Endgieen, 24, also allegedly specialized in defrauding their unsuspecting victims and have succeeded in acquiring exotic cars and erecting mansions in different parts of the country with the proceeds of their loot.
Police sources at Zone 2, said the table turned for the suspects after detectives at the Anti-Corruption Unit of Zone 2, received credible information from outside Nigeria concerning some group of boys,who specialized in forging foreign certificates.
It was gathered that on getting the information, the Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of the Zone 2, Adegoke Fayoade detailed the anti-corruption unit of the command to investigate the matter .He reportedly gave a matching order that the suspects should be rounded up without delay.
Based on his directives, according to police sources, detectives stormed Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos, and as soon as the suspects arrived, they trailed them to a five star hotel at Osapa-London, Lekki, and later accosted them at the bus stop while they were about escaping from the hotel.
It was gathered that on searching their luggage, one certificate of Blue Crest College, Ghana, belonging to Elvis Osakpolo Edokpiain, and a student identity card of Academic City College were 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;that they procured the Degree certificate through the help of a female Nigerian resident in Ghana.
The suspects further stated that the major aim of doing that was to enable them get Ghana resident permit, which they got and the resident permit .
Police sources further disclosed that the suspects confessed that they were made to pay 15,000 Ghana cedis for the certificate and 5,000 Ghana cedis which is equivalent to N1.5 million and 5,000 Ghana cedis for the resident permit which is equivalent to 500,000 Dollars. 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 police,in their confessional statements, the suspects said,” whenever police intercept us, we will show the passport that we are students because we don’t have any means of livelihood in Ghana”.
On further interrogation, they confessed that they were into fraudulent activities, such as online romance scam and the provision of foreign bank accounts for fraudulent transactions on internet through what they call ‘ Facebook bombing’.
The suspects said; “we meet people online and present ourselves as an American soldier,Captain Donald Rowe, whom we are impersonating on Instagram. He is a captain of the United States of America and currently on 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 to buy, 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 block chain wallets to collect the money or foreign bank accounts which at last are being credited in our Nigerian accounts. We have our partners in UK, South Africa, and other countries and most of our victims are from Japan, Denmark, China, and other countries.”
It was gathered that while detectives were making frantic efforts to get more credible information from the arrested suspects, a mild drama ensured when the two suspects started negotiating to bribe the police for them to be set free. Police sources said at that stage, AIG Fayoade, who recently exposed another suspected fraudsters for offering his men a whooping sum of N174m as bribe was contacted and he directed his men to play along and recover the money as an exhibit. Subsequently, detectives played along and the suspects paid them a sum of N66 million, which they collected and kept as an exhibit.
Police sources said that already, police authorities have written to Ghana embassy to get more information about the result and their suspected partners in Ghana said to be spearheading the fraud while they have also spread their dragnets through the International Police( Interpol), to round up their foreign accomplices.
The suspects who claimed that:they were only able to attend secondary schools in Benin City, Edo State,lamented the fate that befell them stating that it was poverty and the need to make ends meet that drove them into fraud They advised youths in the country to work hard in order to achieve success and stop looking for the easy way out.
