Kano court jails two fraudsters for ATM fraud

Glory Ebomah

Justices Farouk Lawal Adamu and Abdullahi M. Liman of the Kano State High Court have convicted and sentenced Huseini Suleiman (a.k.a Khalifa Abba) and Umar Yaú to four years imprisonment for Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card fraud.

They were jailed after pleading guilty to one -count separate charge bordering on cybercrimes.

The charge against Suleman read: “That you HUSAINI SULEMAN (A.K.A. KHALIFA ABBA) on 19th September 2023 in Kano within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, with intent to defraud, used the Guaranty Trust Bank MasterCard belonging to Abubakar Sarki Abdullahi and fraudulently withdrew the sum of N1, 285,000.00 (one million two hundred and eighty-five thousand naira) from his Guaranty Trust bank account number: 0020234639 and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 320 (B) of Penal Code and punishable under Section 322 of the same code.”

The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.

Given his plea, prosecution counsel, Lily Jacob-Duke prayed the court to convict him accordingly.

However, defence counsel, Salisu Sulaiman prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing the convict ‘as he is a first-time offender’.

Consequently, Justice Adamu convicted and sentenced the defendant to one-year imprisonment or a fine of N250,000. In addition, the defendant was ordered to return to school by the court and he was given 2 years to accomplish the task of acquiring a university degree and the officers of the Correctional facility should be put on notice of the order of the court.

The charge against Yau read: “That you UMAR YA’U on 19th September 2023 in Kano within the jurisdiction of this honourable court, with intent to defraud, used the Guaranty Trust Bank Mastercard belonging to Abubakar Sarki Abdullahi and fraudulently withdrew the sum of N1,285,000.00 (one million two hundred and eighty-five thousand naira) from his Guaranty Trust Bank account number: 0020234639 and thereby committed an offence contrary to section 33 (1) OF THE CYBERCRIMES (PROHIBITION, PREVENTION, ETC) ACT, 2015 and punishable under SECTION 33 (1) OF  THE SAME ACT.”

The defendant pleaded guilty when the charge was read to him.

Thereafter, Justice Liman convicted and sentenced the defendant to three years imprisonment with an option of a fine of (N100,000) one hundred thousand naira.

The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began when a petitioner alleged that they swapped an ATM card belonging to one Abubakar Sarki Abdullahi under the guise of trying to assist the owner whom they met at the ATM branch/site and fraudulently withdrew a total sum of (N1,285,000) One Million Two Hundred and Eighty-Five Thousand Naira Only from his bank account.