Nine members of the Eiye confraternity who allegedly killed a rival cult member in May 2020, have been arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos State Police Command.

The Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu ordered an investigation and apprehension of the suspects after the recorded murder went viral on social media. They were spotted questioning a young man before shooting him dead.

One of the suspects, Francis Diamond aka Iron Man who was initially arrested by SARS operatives confessed to being a member of the gang and also the one who recorded the chilling video.

Five women who specialize in buying and selling babies were nabbed in Port Harcourt while negotiating the sale of a two-week-old baby.

Mrs Roseline Nwokocha from Umuahia was arrested with her sister, Chioma, at Rumuokuta junction in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Chioma had accompanied her to Rivers State to see the baby, she said.

It isn’t her first time, she revealed. She said the last time she came to Port Harcourt to buy a baby, her sister Chioma accompanied her because she was sick.

The previous child she bought cost her N1.1 million, she revealed during interrogation. The child she was nabbed trying to buy was to be sold at N1 million and she said she planned to give the child to the buyers at N1.1 million Naira.

She was nabbed with the N1.1 million Naira in cash, and stated that it was the buyers who gave her the money as she left Umuahia for Port Harcourt.

When asked who she planned to pay the money to, she pointed at another woman in the group named Chi Chi. Chi Chi was asked who she planned to get the baby from and she pointed to another woman named Aunty Ify. She said Aunty Ify approached her that she had a baby for sale at 950,000 Naira so, she topped her gain of 50,000 Naira and sold to Mrs Nwokocha at 1 million Naira. She said once Mrs Nwokocha’s money is handed to her, she will hand Aunty Ify’s share to her and Ify will then bring the baby.

Aunty Ify was asked where she got the baby she wanted to sell from and she said she has no idea. She said someone called her that they had a baby to sell so she set the wheels in motion.

Mrs Roseline Nwokocha was asked what happened to the baby she bought two weeks ago and she said the baby is in Aba with a couple. She was asked for the couple’s name but she couldn’t provide an answer. She was also asked what she planned to do with the baby she came to buy before she was nabbed and she said a couple from Umuahia were to adopt the child. She also said she couldn’t remember the Umuahia couple’s name.

A 5th woman in the group was identified as the mother of the previous baby Mrs Nwokocha bought.

Abbas AkA Hushpuppi would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison if convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering.

Nigerian National Brought to U.S. to Face Charges of Conspiring to Launder Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from Cybercrime Schemes

COMPLAINT
*LOS ANGELES* – A Dubai resident who flaunted his extravagant lifestyle on social media has arrived in the United States to face criminal charges alleging he conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from business email compromise (BEC) frauds and other scams, including schemes targeting a U.S. law firm, a foreign bank and an English Premier League soccer club.

Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, 37, a.k.a. “Ray Hushpuppi” and “Hush,” a Nigerian national, arrived in Chicago Thursday evening after being expelled from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Abbas made his initial U.S. court appearance this morning in Chicago, and he is expected to be transferred to Los Angeles in the coming weeks.

Abbas was arrested last month by UAE law enforcement officials. FBI special agents earlier this week obtained custody of Abbas and brought him to the United States to face a charge of conspiring to engage in money laundering that is alleged in a criminal complaint filed on June 25 by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.

According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Abbas maintains social media accounts that frequently showed him in designer clothes, wearing expensive watches, and posing in or with luxury cars and charter jets. “The FBI’s investigation has revealed that Abbas finances this opulent lifestyle through crime, and that he is one of the leaders of a transnational network that facilitates computer intrusions, fraudulent schemes (including BEC schemes), and money laundering, targeting victims around the world in schemes designed to steal hundreds of millions of dollars,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavit describes BEC schemes as often involving a computer hacker gaining unauthorized access to a business’ email account, blocking or redirecting communications to and/or from that email account, and then using the compromised email account or a separate fraudulent email account to communicate with personnel from a victim company and to attempt to trick them into making an unauthorized wire transfer.

“BEC schemes are one of the most difficult cybercrimes we encounter as they typically involve a coordinated group of con artists scattered around the world who have experience with computer hacking and exploiting the international financial system,” said United States Attorney Nick Hanna. “This case targets a key player in a large, transnational conspiracy who was living an opulent lifestyle in another country while allegedly providing safe havens for stolen money around the world. As this case demonstrates, my office will continue to hold such criminals accountable, no matter where they live.”

“In 2019 alone, the FBI recorded $1.7 billion in losses by companies and individuals victimized through business email compromise scams, the type of scheme Mr. Abbas is charged with conducting from abroad,” said Paul Delacourt, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office. “While this arrest has effectively taken a major alleged BEC player offline, BEC scams represent the most financially costly type of scheme reported to the FBI. I urge anyone who transfers funds personally or on behalf of a company to educate themselves about BEC so they can identify this insidious scheme before losing sizable amounts of money.”

“This was a challenging case, one that spanned international boundaries, traditional financial systems and the digital sphere,” said Jesse Baker, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service, Los Angles Field Office. “Technology has essentially erased geographic boundaries leaving trans-national criminal syndicates to believe that they are beyond the reach of law enforcement. The success in this case was the direct result of our trusted partnerships between the Department of Justice and our federal law enforcement colleagues. These partnerships helped dismantle a sophisticated organized crime group who preyed upon unsuspecting businesses. It is thanks to these partnerships that the American people can feel a bit more secure today.”

The affidavit alleges that Abbas and others committed a BEC scheme that defrauded a client of a New York-based law firm out of approximately $922,857 in October 2019. Abbas and co-conspirators allegedly tricked one of the law firm’s paralegals into wiring money intended for the client’s real estate refinancing to a bank account that was controlled by Abbas and the co-conspirators.

The affidavit also alleges that Abbas conspired to launder funds stolen in a $14.7 million cyber-heist from a foreign financial institution in February 2019, in which the stolen money was sent to bank accounts around the world. Abbas allegedly provided a co-conspirator with two bank accounts in Europe that Abbas anticipated each would receive €5 million (about $5.6 million) of the fraudulently obtained funds.

Abbas and others further conspired to launder hundreds of millions of dollars from other fraudulent schemes and computer intrusions, including one scheme to steal £100 million (approximately $124 million) from an English Premier League soccer club, the complaint alleges.

*A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.*

If convicted of conspiracy to engage in money laundering, Abbas would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The FBI led the investigation of Abbas, and the United States Secret Service was also involved and provided substantial assistance. The FBI further thanks the government of the United Arab Emirates and the Dubai Police Department for their substantial assistance.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Anil J. Antony and Joseph B. Woodring of the Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section. The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided substantial assistance in this matter.

8 Nigerians employees accused Chinese couple they work for of locking them up for four months.

A Chinese couple in Abuja has been arrested by the Nigerian police after their Nigerian employees claimed they were locked up in their apartment for the past four months.

The employees, who have been in the couple’s residence in the Jabi area of Abuja for months, were “rescued” by the personnel of the Utako Divisional Police Station on Tuesday following a tip-off by a resident, who reported the incident to the Human Rights radio station.

The Chinese couple and their Nigerian employees were taken to the police station. They were later released on bail.

A video shared by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting shows the victims claiming they had been locked up in the apartment since February.

They said their Chinese employer forbid them from leaving the house and those who dared to leave to get supplies were penalized with salary deduction.

One staff who was sick claimed the couple didn’t allow her to leave the house to seek medical help.