Justices Evelyn Anyadike of the Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin and Adebayo Yusuf of the Kwara State High Court, Ilorin on Wednesday, March 13, convicted and sentenced eight internet fraudsters to different jail terms.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which prosecuted the suspects, disclosed this in a Sunday statement.
The EFCC said the convicts were part of the 48 students of the Kwara State University (KWASU) and two residents of Malete arrested on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, during a sting operation by operatives of the Ilorin Zonal Command of the anti-graft commission for internet-related offences.
The convicts are: Afolabi Habeeb Ajao, Mohammed Nabeel Ayara, Oluyedun Khalid Bolaji, Oladele Israel Olatayo, Aransiola Joshua Adebisi, Olaleye Gbenga Philip, Bright Moses and Ogunrinde Gabriel Ayomikun.
They were jailed after pleading guilty to one-count separate charges.
The charge against Ogunrinde reads: “That you, Ogunrinde Gabriel Ayomikun sometime between April 2023 and February 2024 in Ilorin, Kwara State within the judicial division of the Federal High Court, did retain the sum of N3,500,000.00 (Three Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) in your bank account number 2151747289 with the name: Ogunrinde Gabriel Ayomikun domiciled with United Bank for African, which you knew to be proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 20 of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022”.
They pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them individually.
Following their “guilty” pleas, prosecution counsel, Adebayo Aliyu, Sesan Ola, Mustapha Kiagama and Isabel Adeniran, reviewed the facts of the cases and tendered the statements of the defendants and items recovered from them at the point of arrest and were admitted in evidence.
Thereafter, Justice Anyadike convicted and sentenced Oluyedun, Olaleye, Ogunrinde, Bright, Aransiola and Oladele to a fine of N200,000 each and ordered them to forfeit all the phones recovered from them to the government, including balances in their bank accounts.
In the same vein, Justice Yusuf convicted and sentenced the duo of Muhammed and Afolabi to six months imprisonment each with an option of fine of N50,000.
The judge ordered that the phones, which they used to perpetrate the crime, be forfeited to the Federal Government.
All the convicts bagged their jail terms for their involvement in internet fraud.