A student of Computer Science, Bauchi State Polytechnic, identified as Eze Mavus Ugochukwu, is being interrogated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Gombe Zonal Office.

Eze is accused of defrauding unsuspecting members of the public by posing as a Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army.

Ugochukwu, an indigene of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State was arrested by the officers of 33 Artillery Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Shadawanka Barracks, Bauchi State and handed over to the Gombe Zonal Office of the EFCC for further investigation and possible prosecution.

His arrest follows a complaint, lodged by one Mrs. Dorcas Oni that the suspect presented himself to her as a Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army and told her that he would assist her in securing admission for her son into the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) for which he made her transfer the sum of N400, 000.00 (Four Hundred Thousand Naira) to his account.

In the course of EFCC’s investigation, it was discovered that the suspect has defrauded some other victims to the tune of N1, 455,000.00 (One Million, Four Hundred and Fifty-Five Thousand Naira), using the same military bait. All the proceeds of crime were paid into his two bank accounts domiciled in FCMB and STANBIC IBTC, between December 2019 and July 2020.

Investigations further revealed that the suspect succeeded in making his victims believe he was a military officer by photo-shopping military officers’ uniforms and superimposing the image of his face on them, complementing the fraud by attaching his name tag on the uniforms.

He was also discovered to have forged military documents that he passed off to his victims as genuine in a bid to convince them that he would secure NDA admission for them.

He will be charged to court as soon as investigations are concluded.