By Nmesoma Iloka
The Nigeria Police will soon begin an investigation on how a convicted internet fraudster was able to organise a mega scam from a maximum-security prison worth at least $1m (£773,000).
A Police source who spoke on the condition of anonymity as he was not supposed to speak with the Press, said: “Hope Olusegun Aroke used a “network of accomplices” for the fraud. He was arrested in 2012 and has been serving a 24-year sentence at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison. But a preliminary investigation found he still had access to the internet”.
The police officer said Aroke still bribed the person official that they allowed him access to his wife, hotels and do business,” these are the things we are going to investigate. He is still living large. Presently, he is in Police hospital, Ikoyi, Lagos. Heads will soon roll in the correctional Service. The Service is so corrupt that officials connive with criminals, even convicts to perpetuate crime’.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), said it had received intelligence about Aroke’s scam and was faced with the “riddle” of how he was able to “continue to ply his ignoble trade” from inside the Lagos prison.
Following his arrest in 2012, the EFCC said the then Malaysia-based student was the “arrowhead of an intricate web of internet fraud schemes that traverse two continents”.
The EFCC this week said its preliminary investigation had revealed that “against the standard practice”, Aroke had been given access to the internet and his phone. He had also been admitted to the Nigeria Police Hospital in Lagos for an “undisclosed ailment” and had been able to leave the facility to stay in hotels, meet with his wife and children, and attend social functions.
He had used the fictitious name Akinwunmi Sorinmade to open two bank accounts and bought a luxury car and homes during his time in prison, the EFCC added. He had also been “in possession of his wife’s bank account token in prison, which he used to freely transfer funds
