The Kaduna Zonal Office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday July 16, 2019, secured the conviction of four suspected fraudsters, popularly known as Yahoo Boys before Justice M.T Tukur of the State High Court, sitting in Kaduna, the state capital.
The convicts are: Idris Ibrahim, Martin Anda Adeku, Osahorun Osa and Uyiekpen Gabriel Etiosa who were all convicted on one-count charge each. They were arrested by the EFCC on July 3, 2019 at Barnawa area of Kaduna State.
Idris Ibrahim and Martin Anda Adeku were arraigned for impersonation and cheating two foreigners namely: Vicki Choate and Griftin James respectively of thousands of dollars, steam power cards and lots more. The convicts made use of phish email addresses and Facebook, where they impersonated American soldiers on peace-keeping mission in Afganistan which is contrary to Section 308 of the Kaduna State Penal Code Law 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same Law.
Osa Osahoroun and Uyiekpen Gabriel Etiosa were arraigned for attempting to impersonate and cheat unsuspecting foreign citizens using fraudulent email addresses contrary to Section 57 of the Penal Code Law of Kaduna State 2017 and punishable under Section 309 of the same law.
They all pleaded guilty to the charges preferred against them.
In view of their separate guilty pleas, the EFCC legal team comprising, Sa’ad Hanafi Sa’ad, Jamil Musa, Esmond Kogi Garba, Onyeka Ekweozor, Maryam Lawal PC. Onyenecho informed the court of a plea bargain agreement they entered as defendants with the Commission.
Counsels to the first and second defendants V.C Iroagalachi and counsel to the third and fourth defendants M.A Ahakunna corroborated that a plea bargain agreement has been reached by the prosecution and defence counsels and that the judge should go ahead and convict the accused persons accordingly.
Justice Tukur sentenced Idris Ibrahim and Martins Anda Abeku to five years imprisonment each and option of N200,000.00 (Two Hundred Thousand Naira) fine. He ordered that all items recovered from them be forfeited to the federal government and that they must write an undertaken stating that they will henceforth disassociate themselves from fraudulent activities.
Osahoroun Osas was sentenced to two years imprisonment and Uyiekpen Gabriel Etiosa, six months with an option of N100,000 (One Hundred Thousand Naira) fine applicable to both. Also all items recovered from are to be forfeited to the federal government and they are also to write undertaking, declaring that they will not indulge in any fraudulent activity henceforth.