A group, South-South Professional & Transparency Initiatives (SSPTI), has applauded the Nigeria Police Force ((NPF) for the recent breakthrough in the ongoing war against cybercrime by dismantling a massive foreign cartel operating in Abuja and arresting 113 foreigners, mostly Chinese nationals involved in the crime within the country.
The sting operation carried out by operatives of the National Cyber Crime Center and Zone 7 Command of the Nigeria Police, cracked down on the syndicate at the popular Jahi area of the federal capital on November 3, 2024, where the suspects were arrested.
Also impounded at the scene where the syndicate had operated for some years now, were operational gadgets such as; moderns and Reuters of various network service providers, drones, dozens of laptops, smartphones, and currencies of different countries, especially US dollars allegedly used in carrying out its operations.
The foreign syndicates were reported to have been behind a series of high profile carrying out money laundering, international marketing scams, and defrauding of foreigners and multinationals, especially including banks and major oil companies both within and outside the country.
Investigations revealed that members of this syndicate who operated one of the biggest scam centers in the world often hijacked the victims’ networks using their technical expertise in desktop and chip duplications to penetrate even the most difficult cyber security under the guise of being a Nigerian and operating from its capital city.
The foreign syndicate who was arraigned at the federal high court in Abuja on December 2, 2024, were reported to have contributed majorly to ruining the reputation of Nigeria as the most notorious cybercrime nation in the world which the INTERPOL had repeatedly alluded to and indicting a non-existing secret cult in country as being responsible.
Reacting to this breakthrough by the Nigeria Police Force in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri yesterday, SSPTI national Coordinator, Dr. Ugochukwu Alozie, commended the operatives of the National Cybercrime Centre and Zone 7 Command for a great job adding that this feat the Nigerian police had further attested to the fact that they remain one of the best in the world.
He however took a swipe at INTERPOL for always chasing shadows in its investigations by looking at every possible means to tarnish the reputation of the nation before the international community by always linking a nonexistent body, Black Axe Confraternity, to cyber crimes, when in the actual sense it’s been carried out by other foreign nationals in the country.
According to him; “If U can recall in our recent statement published in some major newspapers In the country, we made it emphatically clear that the INTERPOL is not doing its homework well enough. They are very quick in indicting Nigerians, especially a non-existing cult group, Black Axe Confraternity as being the most notorious in cybercrimes globally but this arrest has proved the security body wrong now”.
“There’s also a celebrated report of a 67years American, Michael Neu, from Slidell, Louisiana, who scammed unsuspecting members of the public within the United States, Canada, and other countries with the guise of being a Nigerian Prince and promising to give them his wealth in return for whatever investment he introduced to them.
The fake Nigerian crowned Royal Prince is currently facing 269 counts charges of wire fraud and money laundering by the Slidell Police Department, USA, noting that this was all part of the unverified reports by INTERPOL operatives linking all these crimes to Nigerians to disparage the nation before the international community.
“For the purpose of exonerating itself, we call on the INTERPOL to as a matter of urgency release the names, pictures and locations of the over 300 Nigerians it claimed were arrested in connection with scamming globally for the purpose of scrutiny and identification, adding that this would further give credence to its commitments in combating global crimes”.
“In the meantime, we are convinced that this recent breakthrough by the Nigeria Police Force has further reaffirmed our earlier stand on the agenda of INTERPOL operatives to deliberately damage the reputation of the country by spreading falsehood”.
“The denigration of Nigeria by INTERPOL is in a bid to cover up for their ineffectiveness in the ongoing fight against cybercrime”.
“We, therefore, advised the operatives of the security outfit to carry out its duties with due diligence, especially when investigating issues that bother the integrity of the nation rather than relying on roadside narratives and fictitious claims that never existed.
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