The Imo state Police command, on Saturday, paraded a suspect, Wisdom Mmaduka, a 30-year-old man, over alleged fake marriage promises to six ladies just to defraud them of their money.

The suspect was paraded at the Imo State Police headquarters in Owerri, alongside other suspects in connection with criminal activities.

Addressing newsmen, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Henry Okoye, tagged the suspect an “advance fee fraudster”.

Narrating how the suspect was apprehended he said: “Intelligence-led investigation and data tracking analysis by detectives of Owerri Area Command led to the arrest of notorious and advance fee fraudster named Wisdom Mmaduka, 30, of Onicha.

“He fraudulently obtained N1,400,000 via ATM transfers from Miss Judith, in the guise of marrying her.

“In the course of the investigation, the accused revealed that his modus operandi is to go after wealthy unmarried ladies, promise them marriage and in the process defraud them of their hard-earned money.

“He has a syndicate he uses as parents and in-laws, who he takes these unsuspecting young ladies to in his village in Mbaise for confirmation of his intention.

“On seeing these, the innocent lady will believe he has good intentions, thus he will steal their ATM cards, withdraw all the money in their account, and fade into thin air.

“Amazingly, on his arrest six ladies he has defrauded surfaced at the station, confirming being defrauded by this same suspect of huge sums of money with the same promise of marriage.

“But luck ran against him this time and he was arrested.

“One Red Highlander Jeep with Reg No. LLD 54AR he stole from one of his unsuspecting victims, Rose Mgbe, of Cross River State, was recovered.

“More so, he has a duplex he allegedly built at Naze with the money he got from his fraud dealings. He has been arraigned in the Federal High Court, Owerri, and remanded in police custody.”

I only collected money from two ladies – Suspect

Reacting, the suspect, Mmaduka, said: “I only collected money from two ladies. I don’t know about six ladies.

“I did not steal their money. They gave me the money. One of them promised to buy a car for me.

“I did not force them. They do it for me freely. One of them even gave me the money to open shop for her and I opened the shop for her.” (Saturday Vanguard: Text, Excluding Headline)