Justice Mahmud Abdulgafar of the Kwara State High Court sitting in Ilorin on Monday, April 15, convicted and sentenced three internet fraudsters, Qudus Temitope Ismail, Kolade Adetola Toheeb and Abdulmalik Timileyin Khalid to various jail terms.
They were jailed after pleading guilty to one-count separate charges bordering on internet fraud.
The charge against Toheeb reads: “That you, Akolade Adetola Toheeb sometime in July, 2023 in Ilorin, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, did cheat by personation when you pretended to be one Throndsen Waylen, a football match forecaster with phone number +23481260084504 with which you created a telegram account, and you fraudulently deceived one Jake Cooper to send $200.00 (Two Hundred Dollars) through paypal to you, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 321 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 324 of the same Penal Code”.
They all pleaded guilty to their respective charges when they were read to them.
Upon their pleas, counsel to the EFCC, Mustapha Kaigama reviewed the facts of the case and tendered the statements of the defendants. He also tendered in evidence items recovered from them at the point of arrest.
Justice Abdulgafar, thereafter, passed six months’ suspended sentence on each of the defendants and ordered that phones, laptops and the sum of €100 (One Hundred Euro) and $200USD (Two Hundred Dollars) recovered Akolade be forfeited to the Federal Government.
The convicts bagged their imprisonment when they were arrested by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the EFCC for internet-related offences. They were charged to court and convicted.