NSCDC arrests undergraduate, two others over visa scam

A student of the National Open University, Osogbo Study Centre, Olusola Akinlotan, has been arrested by the Osun State Command of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps for alleged fraud. 

According to a statement made available to our correspondent in Osogbo on Thursday, the security agency also arrested  two other suspects who are members of a fraud syndicate: Olayiwola Oladayo and Bolarinwa Adebayo a.k.a Dodo.

Akinlotan, who was said to have abandoned his studies at the university when he was declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, was however arrested on Monday when he went to the School to transfer his study to another location outside the state.

The suspect and the other members of the  gang were said to have been engaged in defrauding unsuspecting  persons by arranging fake visas and travel documents for them.

The suspects, according to the statement, duped  an Enugu based businessman,  Nnamchi Nichodemus, of a sum of N700,000 through a dubious travelling transaction in November 2014.

The businessman was said to have been tricked into paying the said money into an account belonging to Akinlotan  who was promised a sum of N105,000.

The NOUN student  was said to have immediately gone to the bank to collect the money through the Automatic Teller  Machine and the counter while he handed over the balance to Oladayo for onward transmission to Adebayo a.k.a Dodo.

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The statement read, “Akinlotan, who was arrested within the premises of the Open University while trying to process his transfer of study to another location outside Osun State, led the NSCDC to the hideouts of the other two suspects.

“Desperate to get off the hook, the suspects offered bribe to the NSCDC officers who arrested them, but they turned down the bribe  in line with the principle of the corps.

“The suspects have since been handed over to the EFCC by the state Commandant of the NSCDC, Tajudeen Ayobami Balogun for prosecution.”