Tobias Sylvester
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Gombe Zonal Office, has arrested a fake soldier identified as Eze Mavus Ugochukwu for alledged involvement in fraudulent activities.
Ugochukwu, a student of Computer Science, Bauchi State Polytechnic, was apprehend while posing as a Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army to defrauds unsuspecting members of the public.
A statement issued by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, on Monday, said Ugochukwu is an indigene of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State.
The suspect was arrested by the officers of 33 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Shadawanka Barracks, Bauchi State and handed over to the Gombe Zonal Office of the EFCC for further investigation and possible prosecution.
His arrest followed a complaint by one Mrs Dorcas Oni that the suspect presented himself to her as a Lieutenant in Nigerian Army and told her that he would assist her in securing admission for her son into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) for which he made her transfer the sum of N400,000.00 to his account.
In the course of EFCC’s investigation, it was discovered that the suspect has defrauded some other victims to the tune of N1,455,000.00 using the same military bait. All the proceeds of crime were paid into his two bank accounts domiciled in FCMB and STANBIC IBTC, between December 2019 and July 2020.
Investigations further revealed that the suspect succeeded in making his victims believe he was a military officer by photo-shopping military officers’ uniforms and superimposing the image of his face on them, complementing the fraud by attaching his name tag on the uniforms.
Ugochukwu was also discovered to have forged military documents which he passed off to his victims as genuine in a bid to convince them that he would secure NDA admission for them. He will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.
Meanwhile, the EFCC had also arrested two music producers and four others over their alleged involvement in Internet fraud in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
