Police Arrest 42-yr-old Scammer Over Alleged N1.150bn Fraud, Possession Of Fake $1.290m

Operatives of the Anti-Fraud Unit of the Zone 16 Headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) have arrested a Port Harcourt, Rivers State based herbalist, identified as Nnedim Ikechukwu, for alleged fraud to the tune of N1.150billion and possession of fake $1,290,000 US Dollars.

According to the Police, while the Anti-fraud Unit was investigating the allegation of N1.150,000,000 fraud levelled against the suspect by one of his victims in Borokiri area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, the search at the suspect’s home in Omogwa community in the same Rivers State led to the discovery of fake Dollar notes to the tune of $1,290,000 hidden in two medium sized boxes.

Sources within the Zonal Police Headquarters revealed that the suspect, who is an indigene of Imo State, claimed to be a Herbalist and traditionalist and that was contacted by two businessmen to provide them a spiritual charm that will make an expatriate give them a multimillion Naira oil contract.

According to a source, “the Native Doctor charged them N550,000 each for the job. And they paid him N1.6million. The suspect purportedly prepared the charm and sometimes in July, 2022, they claimed the charm worked and an expatriate businessman in Nigeria secured them an oil supply job worth $152million, which is equivalent to N1,150,000,000.00.

“After they were paid for the job, the complainants brought the $152million to the suspect’s shrine at Omagwa for spiritual cleansing as directed by the suspect. But to their surprise, the suspect escaped with the whole money to Owerri, Imo State and refused to pick phone calls. They traced him and caught up with him. But he brought out fake dollars to replace the genuine dollars they gave him.”

It was also gathered that a team of detectives led by ASP Ubi Iwara, armed with a search warrant, moved to the home of the suspect and the sum of $1,290,000 US dollars suspected to be fake were recovered in two medium sized boxes hidden in one of the rooms.

The Zonal Public Relations Officer of the Zone 16 Police Headquarters, CSP Ikwo Kelvin Lafieghe, while confirming the arrest, stated that “the Zone 16 Police command has paraded a suspect allegedly involved in Advanced Free Fraud popularly called 419 and unlawful possession of fake dollars. The suspect, a 42 year-old male, who hail from Imo State, was arrested following a tip-off from a victim he attempted to defraud.”