Policemen attached to Federal Special Anti-robbery
Squad (FSARS), Lagos Police command, have arrested Destiny Otubanbo, 27, for
allegedly buying exotic cars, phones and other valuables with fake bank alerts
at Ikota Shopping Complex, Lekki in the state.
The state Police Commissioner, Imohimi Edgal, who
paraded the suspect at the police headquarters on Monday, advised business
owners to be wary of fake bank statement.
“Be sure your account has been credited before you
release your goods. Don’t rely on alerts only.
“On May 24 this year, Otubanbo approached a phone
selling outlet located at Ikota Shopping Complex Lekki, Lagos. He introduced
himself as Mr. Adeleke, a legal practitioner and requested for a Techno Camon
X-pro phone worth N77,500,” the state police boss said.
The CP said the suspect claimed he was cashless,
hence, wished to pay through telephone transfer. “Few minutes after the seller
gave him the account details, he claimed he credited the said sum with a debit
alert proof from Zenith Bank account number 2110746005 Destiny Ayo Adeleke,” he
added.
The shop owner, Mrs. Olumide, who was said to have
been convinced seeing the alert, released the phones to him and requested for
his phone number.”
Edgal added: “But the alert was fake! The phone
number was unreachable and the account number non-existent.”
Therefore, swift intervention from detectives of
FSARS and the local police led to the arrest of one Marian Amuche, the
girlfriend of the suspect, whose pictures were downloaded from the suspect’s
Instagram page.
“Amuche led detectives to arrest the principal
suspect, Otubanbo. On interrogation, he confessed to the crime and that he had
sold the phones to buyers he met online,” Edgal revealed.
Following his arrests, exhibits recovered from him
were two Techno phones, one I-phone, 10 SIM cards of different networks, Lawyers'
gown and wig.
Reacting to the allegations levelled against him,
Otubanbo confessed to committing the crime, but said he regretted it.
He continued: "I am a student of American
University (Udengbe). But I dropped out of school because there was no money to
continue my education. I don't go to court to represent anybody but I bought
the gown and wig for N35,000 just to show off on my Instagram page that I am a
Lawyer.”
He spoke further that the last operation was his
fifth deal in defrauding people. “The first one was in Port Harcourt where I
generated a false alert and bought a car for N5million but the buyer did not
sense it was fake.”
On how he generated the fake bank alerts, the
suspect state that "I have false Zenith Bank account. I would falsify the
original alert with the use of computer and make it look real."
Having confessed to his crimes, Edgal said:
"Investigation is ongoing with a view to understanding the suspect's modus
operandi and discovering other crimes he may have committed through various SIM
cards recovered from him.”
He, therefore, assured journalists that the suspect
would be charged to court upon completion of investigation.
No comments:
Post a Comment