EFCC DETAINS AMERICAN OVER $760, 668 COUNTERFEIT CHEQUES

San Francisco March 01, (THEWILL) - The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has detained a 24-year-old American lady, Sharon Denis Thorpe, over her involvement in a counterfeit cheque scam valued at $760, 668.

Thorpe, a resident of Raleigh North Carolina, was arrested at the Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos on Saturday February 20,2010 while about to board a Qatar Airways flight to Washington DC.

The suspect who parades an American passport No. 457647779 issued at North Carolina, USA, on December 30, 2008, had been in Nigeria since November 2009, ostensibly on vacation with one Musediku Akorede Kehinde, her fiancé, who is believed to be the mastermind of the crime.

Thorpe has however told her interrogators that the counterfeit cheques were given to her by one Femi Atoms, a friend of Musediku who is at large.

Thorpe, arrested by officials of the State Security Service, SSS, was handed over to the EFCC on February 24, 2010.

The suspect is presently being interrogated.