The Gombe State Police Command has arrested and detained an eight-member syndicate linked to robbery and internet fraud in the state.
This is contained in a statement by Buhari Abdullahi, the spokesman of the command, on Sunday in Gombe.
According to Abdullahi, the police on June 7, received a complaint from Hassan Muhammad and Jibril Hassan, alleging that unknown persons armed with cutlasses broke into their residences and dispossessed them of their mobile phones.
Abdullahi said preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects subsequently used information obtained from the stolen phones to gain unauthorised access to the victims’ bank accounts.
“The suspects fraudulently withdrew N296,790 from the GTBank account of one of the victims and further obtained and withdrew a quick loan amounting to N205,205,” he said.
Abdullahi said that following intelligence-led operations and technical analysis, operatives traced one transaction to a Moniepoint account, which led to the arrest of the prime suspect (name withheld), who is a computer science student of the Federal Polytechnic, Kaltungo.
He said that investigation also revealed that the suspect used information obtained from the stolen mobile phones to access victims’ bank accounts and perpetrated fraudulent transactions.
Abdullahi said that the suspect’s statement led to the arrest of seven other accomplices.
“Investigations further revealed that the syndicate had participated in more than thirteen similar incidents across Wuro Birji, Riyal, Bomala, and Jauro Jatau communities within the state,” he said.
Abdullahi said that investigation was still ongoing, and efforts were being intensified to apprehend other suspects now at large.
While advising residents of the state to be vigilant, secure their personal information and digital devices, Abdullahi urged them to report suspicious activities to the security agencies.