The Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre (NPF-NCCC) operatives have arrested six suspects over computer related frauds, money laundering, criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and other criminal offences
The Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) in charge of NPF-NCCC, Mr Akaninyene Ezima said this at news conference in Abuja
Ezima said the arrest of the suspects was in line with the vision of the Inspector-General of Police (I-G), Mr Olatunji Disu to ensure a safe and secured environment for economic growth and public safety
He also said that the NPF-NCCC remained committed to disrupting criminal networks, strengthening investigative and digital forensic capabilities, and protecting Nigeria’s financial and digital ecosystem
The AIG explained that two of the suspects were arrested over criminal conspiracy, stealing and money laundering
According to him, the arrest followed a petition received by the I-G on Aug 13 from a payment services platform against Ecovista Industries PVT Limited and others.
He said the petitioner alleged the diversion of approximately N62 billion from the Treasury Single Account of a financial institution.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that the transactions occurred in connection with a configuration vulnerability during the migration of the financial institution profile from the Public-Sector API to the Private-Sector API
“Investigation also revealed failed earlier transfer attempts valued at approximately N8439 billion before the successful transactions were processed.
“A total of 761 payments amounting to approximately N6174 billion were traced to 105 beneficiaries across 19 banks,” he said.
Ezima said the investigators also identified transactions presented as refunds to customers of Ecovista Industries, after which some recipients were allegedly directed to transfer the funds into alternative accounts linked to the company
According to him, two Indian nationals connected to the company have been arrested and are assisting the investigation
He also said efforts were ongoing to locate another Indian national that was of interest in the case, but currently at large
He added that the idea was to determine the circumstances surrounding the exploitation of the vulnerability, trace the movement of the funds and recover proceeds of the alleged crime