The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has arrested two of the 77 Nigerians wanted by the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, FBI, for cyber crimes.
The Head, EFCC Abuja Zonal Office, Aminu Aliyu, said on Tuesday that Chika Augustine and Godspower Nwachukwu were arrested in Abuja, adding that $35,000 was recovered from the former.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, Aliyu said they also arrested one other suspect for a different case in December last year in collaboration with the FBI.
He said, “Prior to the release of the FBI list, we had in collaboration with the FBI, cases under investigation in which two suspects indicted on the list released by the FBI are in our custody.
“On the other hand, another suspect on the list is being investigated independently on a different case and he will be arraigned.”
According to him, from January 2019 till date, the Abuja Zonal office has secured 33 convictions.
The EFCC chief noted that collaborative operations with other zones resulted to about 293 arrests and over 465 cases currently under investigations.
Aliyu said 90 arrests were made mostly through intelligence gathering, 21 convictions were secured by the Cyber Crime Unit and 110 cases were under investigations.
He said the commission recovered exotic cars and property suspected to have been acquired through the proceeds of crime which would be forfeited after convictions have been secured.
Aliyu said the laptops and handsets used by the suspects had also been confiscated and would be forfeited after conviction.
He said the zonal office recovered N423m, $39,253 and €2,330 between January and August from fraud suspects.