Lebanese woman, robbery gang disguise as EFCC operatives to rob their victims

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Kayode Aderanti, has said the command has arrested five suspects, robbing and defrauding operators of Bureau de Change in the state.

The suspects, which include 32-year-old Lebanese, Amira Abdallahi, Princewill Eze, 55; Daniel Okpara, 30; Paul Irior, 37; Bassey Ekpenyong, 39, and Royal Nwabuike, 32  allegedly  disguise as officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, putting on the Commission’s branded vests to intimidate their victims, after which they make monetary demands on them.

The team leader, Eze, who was arrested by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad of the state command on February 27, 2015 in the VGC, Ajah area of Lagos, confessed to the nefarious acts.

He said, “Before we rob our victims, we usually tell them that we want to purchase dollars, but we know most of them do not have an operating licence. So, we will pretend to be officials of the EFCC, and we will harass them for not having a licence. Later, we will ask them to pay a fine.

“They will bring the money to us in convenient places like hotels and banks. I was formerly a businessman. I also run a hotel. It is about five years now that we started this project. I was arrested by the police four years ago for a similar issue, but I was granted bail by the court.

“The police walkie-talkie and other gadgets recovered from me were obtained during the Anambra elections. I was not into politics, but I was part of that election.”

In her own confession, Abdallahi, whose father is a Lebanese and mother from Ishan, Edo State, said, “I was born in Nigeria and I grew up in Lagos. I stay in Lekki area with my family. I am married with five daughters. The first money I got from the deals was $5,000. I could not stop because the money was tempting.

“I was formerly doing interior decorations work. That was how I met Eze, who is nicknamed Senator. I did some interior design jobs for him in a hotel he owned. That was around March 2014.

“I had done about six deals with the gang. My role is just to talk on phone with our would-be victims. They think I am a foreigner, and they are willing to trust us. I have made about N10m so far, but all the accounts have been drained now. I handed everything over to the police.”