20th January, 2013
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has concluded arrangement to arraign a Malaysia- based Nigerian fraudster, Hope Olusegun Aroke and his accomplice, Tafida Garuba Ibrahim before a Federal High Court, Lagos tomorrow, Monday January 21, 2013.
They will be docked before Justice Mohammed Idris on two separate charges of Money laundering and False Declaration of Assets.
In a press release issued on Sunday, Wilson Uwujaren, spokesperson for EFCC indicated that Aroje was one of two Malaysia-based Nigerian undergraduate fraudsters arrested by the EFCC in the closing weeks of 2012 at the 1004 Housing Estate, Victoria Island,Lagos following a tip- off.
The 25 year-old indigene of Okene, Kogi State claims to be a student of Computer Science at the Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan University, Malaysia.
But the Commission’s investigation fingered him as the arrow head of an intricate web of internet fraud scheme that traverse two continents.
His accomplice, Tafida Ibrahim is a Bureau De Change operator. Through him, Aroke was able to launder proceeds of multiple scams to the tune of over N31million.
The duo enjoy a cozy business relationship that saw Ibrahim travel to Malaysia twice between September and October 2012 at the instance of Aroke.
When Aroke was arrested, a search conducted by EFCC operatives on his apartment led to the recovery of several items such as laptops, iPad phones, travelling documents, cheque books, flash drives, internet modem, and three exotic cars – a Mercedes Benz Jeep, One 4Matic Mercedes Benz Car and a Range Rover Sport SUV.
Operatives of the EFCC also downloaded over 80 implicating documents from the laptops recovered from him.