The Nigeria Police says it has arrested fraudsters who operate illegal websites under different names soliciting for candidates in the February/May 2017 West African Examination Council (WAEC) to pay certain amounts of money into bank account in exchange for posting of worked solutions and answers via WhatsApp at about 20 or 30 minutes into the commencement of each paper.

According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh O. Moshood, the police got wind of the activities of the suspects through a petition written by the authorities of the sub-regional examination body.

He said it was against this background, that personnel of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit swung into action, after painstaking and meticulous investigation that spanned several weeks.

The police gave the names of the suspects as Chijoke Onwuachu Modestus, a 300 level student of Computer Science at Michael Okpara University, Umudike, who was arrested at Umuahia. He was said to have confessed to have collected N400 per paper from numerous candidates, amounting to N70,000; Samuel Odinaka Onwurah, age 20, who was arrested at Kutunku extension layout in Gwagwalada, Abuja. He was said to have collected the sum of N90,000 from various victims; Patrick Uchechukwu Nwodo, aged 30, who was trailed and picked up at Abakpa, Nike in Enugu. He was also said to have collected the sum of 40,000 from unsuspecting victims. The fourth suspect’s name was given as Okon Effiong Joseph who is 20 years old and a 200 level student of Public Health Department University of Calabar. He was arrested in Calabar, and was said to have collected the sum of N120,000 from different candidates.

“The suspects will be charged to court on completion of investigation, while effort is being intensified to arrest other operators of these illegal/rogue websites still at large.

“Meanwhile, members of the public are assured of the renewed commitment and dedication of the Force to stamp out criminality throughout the country.”

Update news