Police nab four Yahoo! boys for abducting colleague over proceeds from fraud

Etim Ekpimah

Operatives of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested four suspected internet fraudsters popularly known as Yahoo! Boys for kidnapping their colleague over sharing of proceeds from the fraud.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Ogun State Command, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said they were arrested on Monday, 26 December 2022.

He added that the suspects, Agbe Simeon ‘m’; Messiah Nicky ‘f’; Oladapo Dolapo ‘m’, and Yetunde Shonola ‘f’, were arrested at Orile Imo village in the Obafemi Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State following information received by the Police at Owode Egba divisional headquarters, that one Haruna Usman, who had been abducted since Thursday, 22 December 2022, is being held hostage somewhere in Orile Imo.

“Upon the information, the DPO Owode Egba division, CSP Popoola Olasunkanmi, quickly mobilized his men and stormed the area, where four of the abductors were apprehended while two others escaped.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the victim and the suspects belong to an internet fraudster syndicate and that they recently swindled somebody whose identity has not yet known of the sum of twenty-six million, four hundred and thirty-seven thousand, nine hundred and fifty naira (#26,437,950), but the victim only gave the sum of #2,200 to his other colleagues, claiming that the money has not been paid completely by their client.

“This infuriated his colleagues who then lured him to a herbalist home at Orile Imo and held him, hostage, there since Thursday, 22 December 2022, with a threat to kill him there if he refused to give them their complete share.

“But while they were there, information got to the police who moved in, rescued the victim and apprehended four amongst the abductors, while others escaped,” Oyeyemi said.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Lanre Bankole, has directed that the suspects be transferred to the Anti-kidnapping Unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible prosecution.