The police in Yobe State have arrested a 5-man syndicate that specializes in fraud and recovered some properties including a Mercedes Benz saloon car and N500,000 cash.
The suspects according to the police, usually disguised as travellers offering spiritual assistance, and subsequently extort their victims large sum of money.
Dungus Abdulkareem, the spokesman of the police in Damaturu in a statement said the suspects were arrested by a joint team from the State Intelligence Department (SID) and Tarmuwa Division.
According to him, the suspects had prior to their arrest, defrauded a resident of Shekau Village, Tarmuwa LGA identified as Malam Audu Shekau the sum of N500,000 under the pretence of warding off enemies through spiritual means.
Abdulkareem named the suspects as Abdullahi Suleman (62), Sani Salisu (30), Nasiru Mohd (30), all from Gombe State, Alhasan Illiya (55) from Potiskum LGA, Yobe State, and Weti Mohd (43) from Ngorore, Adamawa State.
“Their modus operandi involves approaching targets, pretending to be travelers seeking assistance, and subsequently deceiving them into parting with large sums of money under the guise of performing fetish work to ward off enemies and bring prosperity”, he said.
The spokesman added that during investigation, a Mercedes-Benz saloon car, N500,000 cash, a bunch of paper notes and six granite peebles were recovered from the suspects.
“The suspects confessed to the crime, revealing that this was their first operation in Yobe State, although they had been active in Adamawa, Gombe, and Taraba States for over three years”, he added.
