Police arrest two 419 suspects, 16 for illegal revenue collection in Onitsha

The Anambra State Police Command has paraded a two-man syndicate for involvement in swindling unsuspecting members of the public of their hard-earned money.

The suspects – 54-year-old Dr Ifeanyi Mmadu and 68-year-old Mr Linus Onyekwere from Imo State – claimed they have separate non-governmental organizations, Common Wealth of nations and World Wide organization, respectively.

The duo allegedly duped one Mr Emmanuel Nnonyelum, a retiree, the sum of N1,406,000 in September 2020, through a shoddy business deal in which they claimed is related with former President Good luck Jonathan.

Nnonyelum said one of the suspects, Dr Mmadu is his neighbour in Onitsha, whom he approached for a help to invest some part of his pension money and they (the suspects) promised to give him dividends but he was swindled.

Similarly, the Area Command Onitsha in collaboration with Okpoko Police Division also paraded sixteen suspects for involvement in illegal revenue collection.

Speaking with the newsmen, the State Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Haruna Mohammed, disclosed that the arrests followed complaints from Ndi Anambra of how they have been defrauded of their money and the state police operatives swung into action and smashed the syndicate.

He asked the public to be very cautious of these syndicates and urged any member of the public who has been defrauded in such manner to go to the Onitsha Area Command to see if the suspects are those that defrauded him/her.

Commenting on the illegal revenue collection suspects, Mohammed recalled that Governor Willie Obiano gave the police directive last year to arrest anybody found collecting illegal revenue in the state.

He said that as soon as investigations are concluded the sixteen suspects would be charged to court.

The PPRO warned youths to desist from getting involved in illegal revenue collections stressing that the Police Command is committed to fighting crime in the state to a stop.

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