The Rivers Environment Police Command has introduced the dismantling of a pretend process syndicate and the rescue of 16 sufferers in Igwuruta, Ikwerre Native Govt Segment.
The Environment Commissioner of Police, Olatunji Disu, open this at a press briefing on the Command’s Headquarters in Port Harcourt on Tuesday.
Disu defined that the syndicate used to be exposed when police operatives spoke back to a misery name from involved citizens who suspected a hostage status.
The suspects had posed as corporate team of workers and attainable employers to defraud unsuspecting process seekers.
He said that the fraudsters had already duped their sufferers of immense sums of cash, starting from N650,000 to N850,000.
The CP stated, “On August 29, 2024, at about 3 pm, operatives of the Rivers Environment Police Command, connected to the Octopus Accident Drive, acted on credible details about a imaginable hostage status in a compound at Igwuruta.
“The operatives acted hastily and arrested a suspect, Chukwudi Okoli (male), who posed as an worker of an organization, Qjoseansel World International Restricted.
“All through the operation, Amiye Joseph and fifteen (15) alternative sufferers, comprising 13 men and two ladies, had been rescued and brought to the station.
“Initial investigations open that the unsuspecting sufferers had every paid between N650,000 and N850,000 to the fraudulent corporate, which falsely promised them jobs within the Oil/Fuel sector, with cost in US greenbacks.
“The fraudsters operated by randomly selecting phone numbers and contacting potential victims, introducing them to fake job opportunities. They would then invite them to Port Harcourt for bogus interviews.”
Disu additional defined that next extorting immense sums of cash, the sufferers had been held in a facility the place they had been monitored. They had been additionally subjected to coaching, the place they had been taught tips on how to misinform others into believing in pretend process alternatives, with a guarantee of USD 450 in line with date.
He added, “Pristine entrants had been required to pay USD 25 to facilitate a registration procedure. The suspects designed a web-based platform that generated a username and password for registrants upon of entirety.
“Sophisticated gadgets and items recovered from the suspects’ operational base included phones, laptops, television sets, generators, industrial fans, and office furniture.”
Disu showed that the suspect and reveals are in police custody presen investigations are ongoing.
In a indistinguishable building, the police introduced the arrest of a suspect concerned within the seize of a kid in Enugu Environment, who used to be trafficked to Port Harcourt. The sufferer used to be effectively rescued.
The Environment Police Commissioner stated, “On thirteenth September 2024, at about 10 am, operatives of the Command, connected to Abuloma Police Station, Port Harcourt, won credible understanding in regards to the suspicious motion of a person with a tender woman.
“Upon receiving this knowledge, operatives had been hastily dispatched to the branch and arrested a suspect, Prince Ogbonda, elderly 24, a local of Elekahia People in Port Harcourt however dwelling within the Akwuke branch of Enugu.
“A teenage victim (name withheld), aged 16, and a resident of the Garki area, Enugu, was found being held against her will by the suspect.”
Disu showed that the sufferer were introduced for clinical exam and remedy, and the suspect rest in police custody.