The Enugu State Police Command has dragged a staff of a commercial bank in the state, Ifeanyi Nnamani before a Magistrate’s Court in the state for allegedly conspiring with some suspected fraudsters to steal the sum of N4 million from a customer’s bank account.
Other suspects arraigned alongside the banker are the ringleader of the gang, Ndulaka Okwudili, aged 26 and a National Identification Number enrolment agent, Philip Odogwu.
The three male suspects were docked over criminal conspiracy and theft of the sum of N4, 000,000 from an account of the customer who is based in Australia.
According to the Public Relations Officer of the police, Daniel Ndukwe, the trio criminally conspired to steal and use the identity of an Australia-based Nigerian, Mba John Ndukwe to commit fraud.
He said the suspects withdrew over N4 million from the victim’s bank account through fraudulent means.
On how the suspects were arrested by police operatives from the Central Police Station of the command, Ndukwe remarked that an alarm was raised by the management of the bank’s branch after the fraudulent activities were detected on the victim’s account.
Ndukwe noted that further investigation by police detectives from the command’s State CID’s Crack Squad revealed that Ndulaka Okwudili confessed to the crime.
He said Okwudili revealed that in October 2023, at Nowas Junction in Trans-Ekulu, Enugu, the defendant found a bag containing various personal items, including SIM cards from different telecommunications networks, adding that in January 2024, Okwudili inserted an Airtel SIM card found in the bag into his phone and received a large credit alert, leading him and others at large to begin withdrawing funds from the victims account using the USSD banking code.
“By September 2024, when Okwudili faced difficulties accessing the account, he visited the said bank branch. There, he colluded with Ifeanyi Nnamani, an employee of the bank with 17 years of service, who informed him that the account was on Post No Debit status. Nnamani advised Okwudili to obtain a court affidavit and modify his National Identification Number (NIN) details to match those of the account’s legitimate owner, Mba John Ndukwe, to gain access to the account,” the PPRO stated.
According to Ndukwe, Okwudili enlisted the services of Philip Ozogwu, an NIN enrolment agent, who unlawfully changed his name, date of birth, and other personal details on his NIN to match those of the victim without questioning his intentions.
The police image maker said the suspect gave Philip the sum of N40, 000 for the “service.”
“With this altered information, Nnamani facilitated the fraudulent reactivation of the account, bypassing verification checks, including the Bank Verification Number (BVN) link. After reactivating the account, Okwudili immediately withdrew one hundred thousand Naira (N100, 000.00) and gave Nnamani fifty thousand Naira (N50, 000.00) as a “payment” for his role. He later withdrew an additional one million, five hundred thousand Naira (N1, 500,000.00), which triggered an alert from the bank’s Ohafia, Abia State, branch, where the account was originally opened. This led to the detection of the fraud and the consequent reporting of the case to the police by the Enugu branch management of the bank.
“On October 18, 2024, when Okwudili attempted another transaction at the bank, he was arrested, along with Nnamani, by police officers from the Command’s CPS Enugu, while Ozogwu was later arrested.
“The three suspects have been charged with conspiracy, identity theft, forgery, and fraud before the Enugu North District Magistrate Court of Enugu State, Nigeria,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the court has ordered the remand of Okwudili and Nnamani in the Nigerian Correctional Custodial custody, while Philip Ozogwu was granted bail pending further proceedings.
The court ordered that the case file should be forwarded to the Attorney General of Enugu State, through the Director of Public Prosecutions, for legal advice.
