A total of 75 persons, linked to one of Nigeria’s deadliest cult groups, Black Axe, have been arrested by the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL).
Interpol disclosed this in a report it published on Friday.
It said it coordinated a global operation, with the codename, “Operation Jackal”, targeted specifically at the Black Axe.
The International police said the operation involved 14 countries across four continents from September 26 to September 30, 2022.
Interpol described the group as one that is “rapidly becoming a major security threat worldwide”.
The report reads, “Black Axe and similar groups are responsible for the majority of the world’s cyber-enabled financial fraud as well as many other serious crimes, according to evidence analyzed by Interpol’s Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre (IFCACC) and national law enforcement.
“In South Africa alone, the two suspects arrested were wanted for online scams that extracted USD 1.8 million from victims.
“In Italy, the Carabinieri made three arrests in Campobasso within the framework of the operation.”
Interpol said in the course of the operation, 49 property were searched, 75 arrests were made, and 1.2 million Euro was intercepted in bank accounts.
“The immense quantity of assets seized, including 12,000 SIM cards, have provided new investigative leads for law enforcement, generating 13 analytical reports and allowing police to identify more than 70 additional suspects,” the report reads.
“The lavish lifestyles and greed of many suspects – allegedly paid for by defrauding members of the public of their savings and other criminal activities – was on clear display at the scenes of their arrest.
“Various luxury assets were seized, including a residential property, three cars, and tens of thousands in cash.”
The Executive Director of Police Services, Interpol, Stephen Kavanagh, said, “Illicit financial funds are the lifeblood of transnational organized crime, and we have witnessed how groups like Black Axe will channel money gained from online financial scams into other crime areas, such as drugs and human trafficking.
“These groups demand a global response.”
Meanwhile, Kanyi Daily reported how INTERPOL arrested three Nigerians ‘who scammed 50,000 victims worldwide’ in 3 years.
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