18 foreigners remanded over cybercrime

The Wa Circuit Court has remanded 18 foreigners over their suspected involvement in cybercrime.

The Daily Graphic has reported that all 18 accused persons are believed to be Nigerians.

The court is yet to take their plea, but they are to reappear on August 7, 2020.

They were arrested on August 1, 2020, after they had duped unsuspecting people of various sums of money.

The accused persons have been slapped with three counts of obtaining electronic medium falsely, possession of illegal devices and failing to comply with the ban on travelling.

The 18 foreigners are Emmanuel Ogunoyibo, 24; Emmanuel Ukoh, 21; Chigozirim Adindo, 24; Rex Chigozie, 23; Anthony Chukwuma, 25 and Chukwu Chinonso, 22.

Others are Simon Daniel Chukwuma, 28; Wisdom Ejmadu, 25; Ekene Okoro, 26; Victor Ejike, 26; Peter Emeka, 20 and Abana Udochukwu, 25.

The rest are Henry I Dey With You, 25; Wisdom Ejmadu, 25; Ekene Okoro, 26; Victor Ejike, 26; Peter Emeka, 20, and Abana Udochukwu, 25.

The facts of the case, according to the prosecution team led by Superintendent R.A Boateng, were that the 18 Nigerians claimed they entered the country somewhere in April, this year through unapproved routes at the time the borders had been closed due to the pandemic.

Upon their entry, Mr Boateng said, they travelled to Wa where they rented two houses at Dobile, a suburb of Wa, from where they operated their cybercrime activities.

Upon intelligence gathered, a team of security personnel swooped on the two houses in the early hours of Saturday to arrest them.

During the search conducted in their rooms, the police retrieved items including 22 laptop computers and their accessories, 11 mobile phones and a camera which were believed to be used to commit the crime.