A Kwara High Court sitting in Ilorin on Tuesday sentenced a 400 Level student of University of Ilorin (Unilorin), Joshua Ogizien, and three other persons, for offences bordering on internet fraud.
The Ilorin Zonal office of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured the convictions.
The three other convicts are Toheeb Muritala, a 200 Level Computer Science student, Kwara State University (KWASU), Malete, and Rasheed Temitope, a graduate of Bartholomew College of Health Technology, Shao.
Also sentenced is Olaoluwa Samuel of Lagelu Local Government Area of Oyo State.
Delivering judgment, Justice Mahmood Abdulgafar said the court relied on the plea of guilt entered by the defendants, the unchallenged testimonies of the prosecution witnesses and all the exhibits tendered.
The judge sentenced Ogizien and Muritala to one year imprisonment each at Mandala Correctional Centre, and ordered the forfeiture of the devices recovered from them.
He also ordered Ogizien to forfeit the draft of N79,000, while Muritala should forfeit N220,000 draft, raised as restitution to the Federal Government.
The judge further sentenced Temitope to six months imprisonment each on the two counts preferred against him, which would run concurrently.
The court however ordered the suspension of the sentence by one year to enable Ogizien and Muritala complete their education at Unilorin and KWASU, respectively.
Samuel was also sentenced to one-year imprisonment on count one, with option of fine of N50,000, and one year imprisonment on count two without an option of fine.
The convict’s two phones and a draft of N32,000, which he raised as restitution, be forfeited to the federal government.
Justice Abdulgafar who suspended the sentences by one year, also ordered that the convicts should report to ASP Towoju Azeez of Mandala Correctional Centre during the period of the suspension.
The convicts were caught by EFCC following credible intelligence reports on the activities of fraudsters swindling unsuspecting victims of their hard-earned income within Ilorin and its environs.
The operatives of the commission swung into action and in the process arrested the convicts at various locations within the metropolis. (NAN)
