A 28-year-old man from Ondo State,
Ayenimowa Segun; his fiancée, Rukayat Momodu Anikpe and one Ayorinde Alfred
Clement were recently arrested by the Special Investigation Bureau of the Oyo
State Police Command for being in possession of fake diplomatic passports and
obtaining money from victims under the pretence that they would be provided
with diplomatic passports.
Revealing this to Crime Reports recently, the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Mr Mohammed Indabawa said that his command received an information that the syndicate engaged in deceiving unsuspecting Nigerians into believing that they would provide them with United Nations diplomatic passports under a Non-Governmental Organisation code-named African Governmental Forum.
“The Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) was detailed to handle the case and the officer-in-charge, Anthony Okonkwo, led his men to arrest one of the suspects, Segun, at No 25, Lobi Street, Challenge area of Ibadan and others.
“Found with them were 14 suspected fake diplomatic passports and one international passport. We learnt that the victims had been up to 20 and he had been collecting money ranging from N400,000 to N1.8million from them, in the guise of procuring Canadian visa, as well as UN diplomatic passports, for them. Close to N14million had been collected from his victim,” Indabawa disclosed.
In his defence, Segun, who said he was studying medicine in Russia, said “based on my experience while studying abroad, I knew we could help some people get study visa to travel abroad.
“One Roberto Marcos gave me the diplomatic passports. From the information I have, he works with African Governmental Forum under United Nations. The passports of the people sent to Bangkok were seized and the immigration people said it would take up to six months or a year to retrieve the Canadian visa on them. Roberto Marcos then suggested issuing the diplomatic passports to those involved, pending the time he could enter Canada and get the passports back.
“When I got the diplomatic passports in Nigeria, I took them to a lawyer and invited the individuals who owned the passports to hold a meeting. It was during the period of holding the meeting that I was arrested for unlawful possession of fake diplomatic and international passports.
“The money that was paid into my fiancee’s account was for the visa and one of the requirements was that there must be a confirmed return ticket and insurance policy, so the money paid by the people who applied for the visa was for both.”
One of the victims who refused to disclose her name said Segun promised to process a Canadian visa for her for $4,000. “Later, he changed the fee to $7,000. The total amount of money I gave him was N440,000. He also collected different amount ranging from N1.4million to N1.5million from some of my friends. He was using his friend Clement as the intermediary to collect the money. We later discovered that the money was being paid into the account of his fiancée.
“At the end of the day, we discovered that the international passports we gave him were not the ones he gave back to us. The ones he showed us were laminated ones and the cover was blue. What we are after now is how to get our money back. For me, I took a loan to process the visa and I have to pay back. I also need my passport back,” she said.
In an update to the story, Crime Reports gathered that the three suspects were arraigned in court on a three-count charge of unlawful possession of passports, obtaining under false pretence and forgery. The accused were granted bail while the case was adjourned to Monday, December 23, 2013.
Revealing this to Crime Reports recently, the Commissioner of Police in Oyo State, Mr Mohammed Indabawa said that his command received an information that the syndicate engaged in deceiving unsuspecting Nigerians into believing that they would provide them with United Nations diplomatic passports under a Non-Governmental Organisation code-named African Governmental Forum.
“The Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) was detailed to handle the case and the officer-in-charge, Anthony Okonkwo, led his men to arrest one of the suspects, Segun, at No 25, Lobi Street, Challenge area of Ibadan and others.
“Found with them were 14 suspected fake diplomatic passports and one international passport. We learnt that the victims had been up to 20 and he had been collecting money ranging from N400,000 to N1.8million from them, in the guise of procuring Canadian visa, as well as UN diplomatic passports, for them. Close to N14million had been collected from his victim,” Indabawa disclosed.
In his defence, Segun, who said he was studying medicine in Russia, said “based on my experience while studying abroad, I knew we could help some people get study visa to travel abroad.
“One Roberto Marcos gave me the diplomatic passports. From the information I have, he works with African Governmental Forum under United Nations. The passports of the people sent to Bangkok were seized and the immigration people said it would take up to six months or a year to retrieve the Canadian visa on them. Roberto Marcos then suggested issuing the diplomatic passports to those involved, pending the time he could enter Canada and get the passports back.
“When I got the diplomatic passports in Nigeria, I took them to a lawyer and invited the individuals who owned the passports to hold a meeting. It was during the period of holding the meeting that I was arrested for unlawful possession of fake diplomatic and international passports.
“The money that was paid into my fiancee’s account was for the visa and one of the requirements was that there must be a confirmed return ticket and insurance policy, so the money paid by the people who applied for the visa was for both.”
One of the victims who refused to disclose her name said Segun promised to process a Canadian visa for her for $4,000. “Later, he changed the fee to $7,000. The total amount of money I gave him was N440,000. He also collected different amount ranging from N1.4million to N1.5million from some of my friends. He was using his friend Clement as the intermediary to collect the money. We later discovered that the money was being paid into the account of his fiancée.
“At the end of the day, we discovered that the international passports we gave him were not the ones he gave back to us. The ones he showed us were laminated ones and the cover was blue. What we are after now is how to get our money back. For me, I took a loan to process the visa and I have to pay back. I also need my passport back,” she said.
In an update to the story, Crime Reports gathered that the three suspects were arraigned in court on a three-count charge of unlawful possession of passports, obtaining under false pretence and forgery. The accused were granted bail while the case was adjourned to Monday, December 23, 2013.
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