The police in Lagos State have arrested a 23 – year- old United Arab Emirate-based Nigerian, Emu (other names withheld), for allegedly duping unsuspecting members of the public under the guise of procuring a Dubai visa for them.
The suspect was arrested by operatives of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) after one of his victims reported the incident at the Alausa Secretariat office of the security outfit.
The victim, Abraham (other name withheld) had told the police that the suspect collected the sum of N400,000 from him with a promise that he would help him get a Dubai visa and a job.
The suspect admitted to have collected the money from the victim, but insisted that he tried to get the visa for him.
The victim said “when I was laid off where I was working in Abuja, I had an intention of moving out of the country to start a new life. Then, I met his uncle, Samuel (other name withheld), who told me his nephew was working with one company in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) and that he could help me secure the country’s visa.
“We started to communicate via telephone and he assured me that he could secure Dubai Visa for me at a reasonable price, “ he added.
The victim continued that “he requested for N400,000, but I told him I could not afford such a huge amount of money at that particular point in time. Later, he called me again that his work place in Dubai was recruiting and he had already submitted my name for employment. Afterwards, he started to persuade me by telling me the benefits that were attached to the employment,” the victim stated.
Abraham also said “I began to source for the money by all means and at the end of the day, I got the N400,000 and sent to him in Dubai through his Access Bank account number.
He also stated that the suspect, after receiving the money, developed hostile attitude towards him and eventually stopped picking his calls whenever he put calls across to him.
It was gathered that the RRS operatives were on his trail for four months monitoring his movement between Nigeria and Dubai.
In his confessional statement, the suspect said “I can’t deny the fact that I collected the N400,000 from him. I tried to secure the visa for him, but all my efforts to do so were in vain. And I started to spend the money gradually till I finished it all.”
RRS investigators revealed that Emu had, under the guise of helping four other victims to obtain Dubai visa, collected a total of N1.6 million from them and that some of them only came forward when they learnt that he had been arrested.
The image maker in charge of the state police command, Dolapo Badmos, confirmed the arrest of the suspect to the Metro and added that the police in the state would do everything possible to protect the rights of all the residents of the state .
The suspect had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) Panti, for further investigation.
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