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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has arrested a man, Nuhu Dahiru, for allegedly impersonating an operative of the commission and obtaining N3 million from unsuspecting members of the public under false pretences.
The EFCC disclosed this in a statement by its Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Monday.
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According to the statement, Mr Dahiru was arrested by operatives of the commission’s Maiduguri Zonal Directorate in Tashan Bama, along Bama Road, Maiduguri, Borno State, North-east Nigeria.
The commission stated that his arrest followed credible intelligence that he had been parading himself as an EFCC officer and using the false identity to defraud members of the public.
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The EFCC noted that N3 million was recovered from the suspect upon his arrest.
It added that Mr Dahiru would be charged in court after the conclusion of investigations.
Not the first time
The use of fake EFCC identities by criminals is not new.
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In 2024, the police in Niger State arrested five people who allegedly posed as EFCC officials and abducted two students of the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University, Lapai.
According to a report, the suspects entered an off-campus students’ lodge, forced the two students into a Toyota Corolla and took five phones from them.
The police said the suspects used three electric tasers as guns during the operation and later demanded N10 million from the students before reducing the demand to N500,000.
Other students alerted the police, who mobilised and trailed the vehicle to Suleja Road by Kwakuti, where three of the suspects were arrested. One of them, identified as Alfa James, reportedly escaped.
The police also stated that the suspects had fake EFCC identity cards which were produced at a shop in Nyanya, Abuja.
The Niger State Police spokesperson at the time, Wasiu Abiodun, said the suspects confessed during interrogation that they had been invited by their informants and that the activity was their means of livelihood.
A similar case was reported in Lagos in 2019, when the police arrested a 29-year-old man, Emeka Emmanuel, for allegedly posing as an EFCC operative and defrauding people with promises of securing jobs for them at the commission.
READ ALSO: Osun: EFCC and the war this week, By Festus Adedayo
Mr Emmanuel was arrested by the Ojo Police Division after allegedly collecting N51,000 from a man, Olaposi Semiu, whose son he had promised to help secure an EFCC job.
Around the same period, a suspected fake EFCC official was arrested in Adamawa after allegedly attempting to defraud the Majority Leader of the state House of Assembly, Hassan Barguma.
The suspect, identified as Simon Bolki, allegedly approached the lawmaker in his office and claimed to be an operative of the commission’s Intelligence Unit. He was arrested after presenting a fake EFCC identity card.
The EFCC has warned members of the public against fraudsters who impersonate its officials, particularly those who demand money or offer fake employment opportunities in the name of the commission.
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