Undergraduate, 2 Others Remanded In Prison Over Fraud

San Francisco March 17, (THEWILL) - A 400- level undergraduate of University of Lagos, Stephen Nwokolo and two employees of TNT, a courier company, Miss Ajayi Abiola and Mr. Tunde Oyeyemi have been arraigned before Justice Akinjide Ajakaiye of the Federal High Court Lagos, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on a 22- count charge bordering on conspiracy and forgery.

They however pleaded not guilty to all the charges and were remanded in prison custody till March 30, when their bail application would he heard.

Sometime in September 2008, the first accused, Stephen who is an engineering student of Unilag was said to have gone to the office of TNT in Lagos with a parcel containing 284 units of counterfeit foreign cheques and other bank notes, with the intention of sending them abroad with the connivance of the second accused person who was in charge of registration of parcels in the courier company. The third accused person was a dispatch rider with the company.

Investigation revealed that the trio had been doing the illegal business together for a long time before they were caught by officials of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA based on a tip off. They had been sending counterfeit notes through the courier company to oversea countries where other members of their syndicate reside. And for their assistance, Stephen usually gave monetary rewards to his accomplices in the courier company.

When the accused persons who had been on administrative bail were arraigned on Tuesday March 16, their counsel pleaded that they should be granted bail, especially the first accused who he said is due to write the semester exams next month. But Justice Ajakaye brushed aside the oral bail request and ordered that Stephen and Tunde be remanded in Ikoyi Prisons while Abiola, who is the only female among them stays in Kirikiri medium prisons till March 30 when the application for bail would be argued.